Baby Phase
by SilverPedals1402
Summary: -future fic-When Pepper ends up pregnant she is more than excited and she is more than happy with Tony. Though that's only the beginning. The beginning stages are always the easiest and funnest. Together with her family, she will learn that its not so easy as she gets farther along. Come along with the couple as they start their own happy family. 'Sequel' to "phase".
1. Chapter 1

**So, yay its 2013! HAPPY NEW YEAR! I decided since i haven't really posted much, i have posted just before christmas...but still before that i was gone a bit more than usual, but i have GREAT news and that is that i got my OWN computer. That I BUILT. :) I'm just excited...but now i can write tons more now, cause its mine and no one else needs to use it. So now onto the story,**

**Not really, but i just posted this because i had said that if i had someone who wanted me to continue _Phase _that i would try to do just that. I decided not to put it as a new chapter because the plot is a WHOLE lot different, not yet, but at some point it does change. And just the story line over all needs a different summary. So yeah...Also, i'm not an expert on the whole 'pregnancy' deal, so if you know something that i don't and i put something that is REALLY wrong, then tell me, and i'll try to fix it, but i don't think we'll run into that, because i'm using the internet and getting answers from there, but you all know how trustworthy that is... anyways, don't get mad if somethings are wrong, i'm pretty much going out on a limb here.  
**

**Some of you might not have read _Phase, _but i recommend that you do, (I'm not begging) so that you know whats going on. It has the info of what happened after the invasion, or at least a more detailed version than this story does, you get to read Rhodey and Mabel's story, (a short paragraph) and it might just be nice. But you don't really have to, but its HIGHLY recommended that you do. OH and this chapter and most likely the up coming chapters are all written on the KINDLE so excuse my mistakes.  
**

**I think i forgot to mention that Pepper stopped being Rescue after a while after she got married, so you know.  
**

**I DO NOT OWN A THING, nor will i ever, even if i dreamed i would never own IMAA.  
**

(Theo is about a year and two months by now.)

…

August 10th (7 months later)

…

Pepper was naturally impatient. So it was only normal for her to be pacing back and forth on the hard wood floor. She listened to every sound in the room. He feet slapping against the wood, the ticking of the clock above the fire place, the cackling of flames as the fire burned, the wind chimes ringing in the wind just outside the window, and finally, her heart beat. Her heartbeat had got to be the loudest. So strong and fast.

She waited and waited. She waited what seemed like an eternity. The thing was taking so long! Okay, she had to admit that it hadn't been long and she she could look, but she was having trouble bringing herself to actually move her feet out of her pace. Again though she had to admit that she was only hoping that she wasn't alone for the week.

She was kind of in denial at the moment. She wasn't being impatient. She wasn't. She was just being stubborn. He would be back and she knew it. He just left the house the on a business trip with his dad. She had the easy part and was able to get some actual sleep without having to be concerned with Tony being in bed or not. He had the boring hard part. Meetings, paperwork, travel, all the junky stuff she'd never understand.

She sighed still wishing he was here with her at such an important time. She wished she could call him home, but she knew he couldn't travel hours over to her just to he with her for the moment only to go back. It would be too much to ask of him. She would have to sucked it up and deal with it. This way she'd be able to surprise him with the news, unless it was bad news, then all this impatience and stubbornness, would be for nothing.

With a shake of her head she looked to the ticking clock. Yeah, it was definitely done. She stopped her insane pacing and left the room and eyed a picture on the wall next to other pictures. Though this particular picture was her favorite. Not because of the white and black lace-like frame, or even the size of it, but the memory.

(Flashback)

"By everyone!" Pepper shouted with a wave.

"Goodbye!" Tony shouted after her.

Smiles were everywhere. "Bye guys!" "Have fun!" Was what was shouted back to the newly weds. The couple waved once more before hopping into the black car that had a banner on the back reading, "just married!". The car drove off being driven by Tony.

Pepper in the passenger seat, reached a hand over and put it over Tony's. "You know, I never though we would get married."

"Whys that?" Tony responded.

"Well, when we first met on that roof, I had a huge crush on you. I always had my own fantasy where you would ask me out on a date. Then we would go on a walk at the beach or a carnival, where you would kiss me under the sunset. Then later on you would ask to marry me in a romantic way like at a diner or a waterfall."

She looked to Tony who was looking forward with his trademark smirk. So she continued,

"Then the invasion happened when I was no longer just crushing on you, actually that pretty much had already gone away, but it gradually grew into something stronger. I had come to realize that I loved you. Though you wouldn't let me tell you. I mean I was manning up and you would listen! Though at the end you gave me a kiss, though I was kinda disappointed it was on the cheek and only just a kiss. You didn't even say something!"

She paused to take a breath as she listened to Tony chuckling. She just ignored it because she knew he did that a lot.

"Then a couple days later in the armory, you ask to hang out...as in a date. The awkward look to your face that day was one of the cutest faces you have ever made. Though I was a bit disappointed you didn't ask me in a better manner, but it was still cute. We went out for a while and I was pretty sure our relationship was not going to last."

"Why?" Tony asked.

"Well you almost died everyday."

"So did you."

"Yeah well you were more at risk. Then we got into so many fights about haw you were risking your life so much. Then we graduated school and we were still miraculously dating and fighting. I remember that time we did break up, but Rhodey slapped us into shape telling us that we were idiots for letting each other go."

Tony laughed. "Yeah, Rhodey will be Rhodey."

"Yep, so a couple years later we're still dating. Though not for long cause you asked me to marry you. But at least I got a romantic proposal from you. Much better than you asking me out on a date!" She'd laughed. "You asked me on the day of my birthday so you could hide your intentions. You brought me to a restaurant, not a very fancy one though, but you got the chef to make pancakes with the ring embedded inside. I almost swallowed it too. But yeah, it was not what I expected."

"I'm not getting your point of why you never expected to marry me."

"Its just the fact that you were so clueless and idiotic that no one really expected that you would be the one to ask. They all though I was. Mabel and Rhodey sure did. They thought that you'd be dead before we even got engaged and I had thought that to. Then it took like forever to get married that they thought you'd be dead by the wedding."

"Nice to know you guys don't believe in me."

She sighed happily as she looked out the window. "I love you."

"And I love you to Mrs. Stark."

She had always giggled when he called her that.

...(end flashback)...

The picture was the two waving to the crowd. She would never forget that day. The talk they had in the car was so different to all their other talks. This picture was her favorite because she could see Tony who was smiling so widely. He was so happy that day. So joyful. She never saw him so happy.

Then she shook her head. She had to stop delaying the inevitable. Tony wasn't coming and she'd have to grow a back bone and do it alone. She was acting ridiculous. It was something so simple, but she was fussing about whether or not Tony was there. Either way if he was there or not, she should be at least brave enough to get to the room. But no, she had to get lost in the past. A good past, but a place she didn't need to be.

She roughly moved her feet out of the area and practically dragged herself into the bathroom. Maybe it was for the best that he wasn't there. Maybe it was better this way. Then she could have the pleasure of giving the news. Who knew, maybe it would be fun. Seeing the look of surprise on his face. It wasn't everyday she had news like this. Unless...

She snapped the thought out of her head. No, it was going to be fine. It was going to work. It had to. She got so worked up and she wasn't ready for it to be all for nothing. She didn't want to be let down. She wasn't going to be. She shouldn't have to be. Things would work out.

Using her right hand, she reached down to the counter to where she left it. She lifted it up close to her eyes, and blinked to clear her vision a tad. She was biting her lip as she looked at it and tried to read what it was. When she realized just how obvious it was, she dropped it.

She took a step back with a smile tugging at her lips. It was impossible to hold it back, so she let out a happy squeal and threw her arms up in the air. Sure he wasn't here to share the news, but again, where was the fun in having him there? It would be more fun to break the news to him and being able to see his reaction.

She let out another happy squeal with an added giggle as she picked up the dropped object. A pregnancy test. It was positive. It was finally positive. After three tries and three previous tests, it was finally positive. She had begun to worry that she was incapable of conceiving a child, but it was positive. She was finally going to have a baby.

She was pregnant.

Then that's when her mind decided it was a good time to fill up with all those thoughts. The questions. Oh no, not the questions! She started to wonder what the gender was going to be. She started to winder how far along she was. She wondered what she should do. She wondered what the baby was going to look like. She wondered what she was going to end up craving. She wondered how everyone would react, especially Tony.

She bit her lip slightly as one of the most annoying thoughts entered her mind. Names. Oh Geez, billions of brilliant names could be chosen. Male and female names. Though she knew it was best not to think of names rights at the moment. It would never stick. Unless the name was strong and memorable. Though she couldn't think of one on the top of her head.

Then she remembered she'd have to make a doctors appointment to make sure that she was pregnant. While she was there she would also learn her due date, any medical condition the baby might have, and any troubles she might have in her pregnancy. She'd do that later when she got settled with the whole idea.

She went to the bedroom she shared with her husband and started to brainstorm some ideas to tell him. She thought of a few things. One idea involved writing on her stomach, another involved decorating the house, while another involved simply dropping hints. Baby related movies, commenting on things like how hungry she might be at times, baby foods like baby carrots, baby potatoes, baby corn, etc, etc, and other things like asking questions about names and gender.

But there was one idea that really stuck in her head. She thought of it while thinking of some other idea, but it had the major set back of not seeing his reaction. Though she'd definitely see the following reaction. The joy he should hopefully feel. She'd see the smile she loved so much. Though she would just hope he'd get what she was saying or hinting, when she actually put the plan to action.

She sighed as she laid down on the comfy bed. Her eyes closed and her fingers curled up tightly in her blankets. She was overly happy at the moment that she could literally sing to world about her joy. She could just imagine the look on Tony's face when he found out. Then they would find a new creative way to share the news to family.

She started to imagine all the giggles and cries that would echoed through the hallways of the house in all of 9 months. Just 9 months she would be in labor and giving birth to a beautiful baby boy or girl. She could just imagine what the baby would be like. A genius? A chatterbox? A hero? It was just exhilarating to think about all the possibilities. The. She thought about the looks. She certainly wished that the baby had its fathers eyes. Blue eyes, especially those like Tony's, were her favorite kind of eyes.

She opened her eyes to find them droopy and tired. With a yawn she snuggled into the blankets missing the heat of Tony's body against or next to hers. She closed her eyes as she continued to get lost in her own thoughts. Soon her thoughts brought her to a beautiful and deep sleep.

**I don't really like how i ended this chapter, but oh well. I hope you think differently and actually like it. So How was it? Was it any good? Its really something i fret about and i just want to hear you opinion. Thanks, and i really hope you guys will like this one. **

**I'm going to try to get a head start on my other stories before i have to go to school tomorrow, so BYE!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, I thought, since this chapter has already been finished, I'd post it, since i've just been reading through it a few times debating whether or not i should rewrite it, and i just got to the point where i decided that I didn't care. You guys should love this chapter. I did. Plus if i rewritten this, then I'll have to rewrite the next chapter as well, which should be up soon. **

**I'll say this once, and i hope i don't say this again, but I warn you, there is a lot of kissing in this story. I'm trying to be a bit more open with this story, but really it is NOT too strong, not even close! All it is, is kissing, and i shouldn't even need to warn you, but yeah, like i said i won't repeat this. Which i will never have to because it is sooo weak that it doesn't need a warning, sorry.  
**

**Disclaimer: Iron Man Armored Adventures, does NOT belong to me.  
**

Tony stepped out of the car with a wave to Happy who picked him up and dropped him off. He smiled as Happy started to complain about being late to see Cathy as he drove off. Cathy was his girlfriend, a very pretty woman who was absolutely obsessed with baking cookies. She was of the baking sorts. She was a bit older than Happy and had a 4 year old girl named, Hannah, from a previous relationship.

Tony walked up to the house his thoughts drifting away from Happy and Cathy to Pepper. He smiled as the thought of her voice entered his mind. He hadn't heard in a whole week. He sure missed it. He looked up to see a few lights on in the upstairs. Pepper was awake and waiting for him.

He couldn't help but chuckle. She would stay up all night waiting for him. She always did. She always would. He remembered her staying up until four o'clock in the morning just to make sure he was okay after a big iron man chase deal. Man did he love her too much sometimes.

He opened the door and walked inside to a very cozy home like feeling. The house was warm, probably heated from the fire place, and seemed to have a certain glow to it. Candles. She had candles lit by the door way. He smiled as the lemon and lilac scent hit his nose. Despite the heat outside, the house was normally pretty cool. Sometimes he loved to have a heated home to come home to.

"Pepper?" He called quietly.

He made his way up the stairs after taking his shoes off and looked around. He turned to go to where the living room was to where she normally waited for him while she read her book. Instead she wasn't there. He turned around to look in the bedroom, but was suddenly pulled back by the back of his shirt.

"Welcome home!" Pepper said with a smile.

He chuckled. "Thanks."

She pulled him in for a kiss. He was shocked by the strength and urgency of the kiss. She was normally more gentle when she kissed him. Unless she was excited. He soon followed her movement and kissed with the same urgency. His hands were in her hair and hers were on either side of Tony's face. By the time they pulled away for a breath they were sitting down on the nearby couch with Pepper sitting on Tony's lap.

"Whoa, what's got you so hyped up?" He asked with a curious smirk.

"I haven't seen you in one week and I've been home alone for a week. Work was boring as usual. Why do you think I'm excited?" She replied with an easy smile.

He felt his heart flip in his chest as he saw her smile. He loved her smile and that was putting it the easy way. He could stare at her smile for ages and never ever get bored of it. It was filled with energy and joy. It was always real. It reached her eyes and was so contagious he could hardly ever resist not smiling with her. That was a big reason to why he loved her. It was her smile and ability to smile when times were at rock bottom.

"I missed you too." Tony said giving her a hug.

"I missed you more you know. I got so bored without you I cleaned the entire house three times." Pepper replied.

Tony raised his eyebrows. "You did?"

"Yep." Pepper said nodding.

He laughed and sure enough she followed. They stood up and when they realized how late it was, they decided to retire to the bed room and go to sleep. After all Pepper had a long day of cleaning and waiting for him to come home and he had a long drive. They were both exhausted. So they cuddled up in the bed passing out almost immediately.

…

It being a Sunday morning meant that they could sleep in a bit. But Pepper as usual was the first one up. Which she was overly grateful for. She had a plan and she had to do it before Tony woke up. Otherwise it would completely ruin the whole surprise she worked up. She felt butterflies in her stomach as she realized fully that this was the day she could break the news. The news she was so intent on sharing to him.

She left the room to the room next door to set it up for the surprise. It was actually pretty simple and bland. Though as simple as it was, it was still going to be perfect. She had to make sure of that. She didn't want to put a week of excitement to turn out to be nothing but a big disappointment. She would certainly not be happy.

She left the now ready room with a smile and to finish her plan she crawled into the bed with Tony again. It was a Sunday and she was up late last night so she was tired enough to go back to bed. And she did, with heavy fluttering in her chest and butterflies, she fell asleep once more.

…

Tony opened his eyes slightly and blinked away the light. He yawned as he sat up and looked around the bedroom. Pepper lay asleep in her pj's next to him only partly covered by the tangles of blankets on top of her. He fixed the blankets and got out of bed to use the restroom that was connected to the bedroom.

He walked in and was only half way in the room before something stopped him. It was the mirror. It wasn't really the mirror itself, but what was on the mirror. It wasn't marker, he was sure of that. He was pretty sure it was lipstick. The lipstick that Pepper hardly ever used. He read it and he read it again. Then he read it three more times after that.

DADDY

It was just simply 'DADDY'. nothing else. It was written in huge lettering. He didn't understand why daddy would be written on the mirror. Then he recognized the handwriting. It was Peppers. At first he didn't understand why Pepper would put Daddy on the mirror. Then he started to remember something that happened not to long ago and he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He moved to walk out to go confront Pepper of his finding, but stopped when he saw something taped to the door.

"What the-" he mumbled to himself.

He pulled it off the door and looked at it closely. At first it looked like nothing he had really seen before, but as he examined it more and twisted it around he finally understood what 'daddy' meant. A plus was plastered in a small oval on the object. His eyes went wide. Was she really? Was she? Is she?

After staring at it with a blank face for about five minutes, a smile appeared slowly on his face and a laugh escaped his lips. He slapped a hand over his mouth as an insane row of giggle fits rolled through his body. His smile was so wide along with his eyes he suddenly felt like a child again. He put the test down and walked out of the bathroom almost instinctively and went to the bedside of his wife.

He knelt down next to the bed and watched as she breathed in and out. He noticed the blankets fell off of her again and he laughed. He placed a hand over her stomach almost as if he would feel the baby. He knew he wouldn't, but he just liked imagine.

Her eyes slowly opened as she felt the pressure in her stomach. She looked over to see Tony looking over at her. He was smiling lightly with his hand on her stomach. "Tony?"

"Morning, mommy." He whispered.

Her eyes widened and she looked to the open door of the bathroom. "You found out?"

"Yeah, it was hard at first, which now seems crazy, but once I found the test, I understood." He responded.

She smiled and her eyes teared up. She sat up quickly and went and hugged him. She kissed him a few times as well. "Aren't you excited!?" she questioned.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I? The last three times didn't work...I was starting to worry!" Tony said.

She looked down. "I know, but now its going to work out. Its going to happen." Pepper said confidently.

Tony smiled brightly and brought Pepper closer to him and lifted her up. A giggle rang out of her mouth as Tony spun around in a circle. Her legs wrapped around his waist so she would slip from his arms and she looked at him with that smile he loved so much. Her hair was a wild mess, but he actually thought that was cute. He used the hand that was supporting Pepper and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and patted some of the hair that was sticking up and down.

"What happens now?" Pepper whispered.

"I don't know," Tony said. "All I know is that I really need to get some reading down."

She laughed. "Well, I already went to the doctor and he confirmed it. We decided that I wouldn't have any trouble with the pregnancy neither would the baby. Cause there wasn't a past of health conditions in any of our family's, though I did bring up that you had damaged your heart in the plane crash, he said that shouldn't affect anything. Though it went away..."

"Anything else?"

"Oh yeah the baby's due on or around April 19th." She said smiling.

"Okay that sounds fun." Tony replied. "Do you know when other appointments are?"

"Yeah, there's one next month."

Tony set Pepper down and smiled as he sat down next to her. She looked over at him mirroring his smile. She placed her hand over his and laced her fingers with his. They both looked to each other for a moment and they both suddenly knew that it was all going to work out. They had lots of planning to do and lots of work to do. They had each other to hold up and love.

Tony took a deep breath before looking forward with a smile. "Who wants breakfast? I'm buying."

Pepper giggled looking down to their hands. "You do that. I'm going to go do some more reading."

"Sounds like a good plan," Tony responded happily. "I'll join you later."

**Did any of you like that as much as i did? I really hope so. I put a lot of work into that, because I've rewritten it several times before moving on. I'm glad i decided against rewriting it again. It's hard work when you have so many options...-.- **

**Well, i really do hope you enjoyed it...:D So, farewell for now, you awesome readers!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**So, I've finally decided to post this chapter, i think i waited too long...anyways, HERE it is for those of you who are reading this, and i've really got nothing else to say...so, ENJOY?**

**Disclaimer: IMAA is not mine, nor will it ever be. And please excuse any grammar mistakes, it was ALL written on my Kindle...  
**

September 21st - 10 weeks pregnant (5 weeks later)

Pepper felt oddly uncomfortable in the soft-cushioned couch of her best friend. Her neck was incredibly sore from the previous night of throwing up almost all night. She was completely wiped out. She was actually happy Tony gave her the day off. She would hardly be able to hold her head up to at least appear awake if she went to work.

So for the day she decided to go visit her best friend, Mabel, who was a stay at home mother. Rhodey was off at work so it was just pretty much a girls day out. More like a girls day in since Pepper refused to do anything other than sit and talk or sleep. She literally didn't even call Mabel before she stormed in the house using her key. Mabel happened to be feeding Theo when she walked into the living room, but luckily the two were close enough to practically take baths together.

"Pepper?" She had asked. "Is something wrong? Is Tony alright?"

Whenever Pepper happened to just walk in the house without a warning, Mabel instantly suspected something was wrong. The first three times Pepper did just walk in, Tony was in the hospital with a broken bone, a coma, or a near death experience. So every time she unexpectedly saw Pepper at her home, she suspected the worst. She expected something of the sorts to be wrong.

Though this time, she only shook her head. "I just didn't get a wink of sleep last night. Tony gave me the day off."

"Must be nice to have your husband as your boss." Mabel replied with her easy going smile.

Now she sat on a comfy couch, not feeling so comfy in it. Her sore neck the result of leaning over a toilet all night with horrible morning sickness. Tony was up all night with her, but he was used to pulling all-nighters. She wasn't so much. Sure she stayed up late just waiting for him to come home and sometimes it would be until the next morning, but even those she had moved around all day with a resulting neck ache.

Mabel stirred around the house doing the many things a mother does. Cleaning, playing with her baby, cooking, and other things that may include a small chat with an exhausted best friend. Though normally that didn't last very long when Theo cried out for dear life when ever he couldn't find his nook or stuffed elephant.

Pepper in the mean time while she waited for Theo to calm down or Mabel to clear up some of her own busy schedule, read the book she occasionally left at the house to read or allowed herself a minute to rest. Then she'd end up sneaking into the bathroom when fresh waves of nausea hit her. She almost got caught, but was quick to recover and cover her mistake. She wasn't quite ready to share the news yet, and she kinda hoped to keep it to her and her husband for just a little bit longer.

At the end of the day and Tony called her up wondering why she wasn't home. He didn't always pester her to why she wasn't home. He did know she had a life besides cleaning the house or cooking. Though ever since he found out she was pregnant, he got worried sick something would happen to her if she wasn't home under his protection. She understood the feeling really, it just got to the point where he seemed a bit paranoid that a fly could hurt her.

She assured him she was fine and was only visiting Mabel. Only that sparked him of interest to wondering if she told her or not. Which in Peppers opinion, it was only natural for the dad to be the worry wort, at least until the baby was born. Then the baby seemed almost indestructible in their eyes. That's what her mother told her once. Fathers were over protective when it comes to the pregnancy, but when the child grew up and was able to speak and laugh, the two were unstoppable. And most likely inseparable.

She smiled as she made her way out the door and she waved goodbye to Mabel and gave a cheeky smile to Theo before rushing out the door almost hitting Rhodey who was coming home from work in the process. "Oops!" She giggled. "Sorry Rhodey!"

She heard him laugh, but nothing else. Simply his usual chuckle. Mainly because they met like this almost everyday. She'd be rushing out his door and she'd almost take him out by just running by him. Yep, she never lost her energetic joy as she got older. No one can or will deny that.

…

She lay now cozy, but still stiff from the night before, in the bed that she returned to each night. She sighed in content with a smile tugging at her lips as she listened to the sweet sound of Tony tinkering around the bathroom. He always had to be loud in the bathroom. He would drop soap bottles, bash the toothbrush roughly on the sink, trip, close a cabinet to loudly, if not, it was something else.

Despite the annoyance that he had to make noise in that room so often, she found it comforting. It meant he was safe and sound, home and warm. He wasn't off fighting crime. He wasn't dying in a hospital bed unable to make these comforting sounds. Most importantly, he wasn't stuck in his lab, pulling an all nighter with his armor.

Which she was glad to say, were actually occurring less and less nowadays. He drove or rode with her all the way from work, he made it to dinner, he wasn't always causing explosions, and finally, he wasn't off killing himself. At least not to often. Only two days ago, he was off on a fight against Aim, who got a whole new set of skills and weapons for iron man to try. Tony was fine, cause not only did they upgrade severely, so did Tony.

Tony feeling the need to protect his loved one, or ones, he had to upgrade his armor. He said he wanted to change part the actual exterior or the suit, but he said he wanted to wait a bit longer for that upgrade cause he knew it would take almost a whole week of all nighters, and luckily, he understood just how much Pepper missed him on those days. So he had tinkered around and burnt a few fingers working with cords and electrical junk and found a cool way to actually hook up one of his latest creations. JARVIS.

JARVIS was an artificial intelligence. An AI. That actually was recently installed into the house, but had a bug, so it wouldn't respond. Until Tony found it was easier to wire him into the suit. Somehow the portable way was the better way, but even so, the AI proved to be yet another conscience of Tony. She being one of them was actually glad for the help.

Jarvis has been in the house and has been fulfilling the many needs they have asked for with a slight glitch. He always was blurting out random words, scaring the living daylight's out of Pepper so, for a while he has to be put on quite, but just loud enough to hear him clearly.

Tony walked into the room rubbing his own sore neck. "You are so lucky you didn't go to work today. It was so busy."

It was pretty much all he said for the moment before he crawled in bed with his pregnant wife. His hand instinctively and protectively landing on her stomach. She smiled with tired droopy eyes.

"How was your day?" He asked.

"Average." She replied curtly.

"Average?" He asked. "Nothing more?"

"Just went and saw an adorable baby today, so I'm pretty happy. Except my neck couldn't hurt anymore than it is now."

Tony signaled for her to roll over and she did with a confused, but excited face, as she waited for him to do something. Almost immediately, Tony's hands are against the top of her back to where her neck was and began to massage and rub at her neck. All the way until he felt not a single tense muscle.

His arms were around her once more as she faced him again. Their lips somehow finding each other in a very confident reunion. They would soon fall asleep listening to each others heartbeats, and sometimes, Pepper liked to imagine that she could here the baby's heartbeat since in the book she read it said the baby should have a heartbeat at this point.

She loved her reading. She even loved to see Tony all cuddled down in a chair holding a book over his knees. What really made her smile was that he was constantly reading pregnancy books. He found a billion different books at a store and bought them and was quick to bring them home. The books ranged from how to stay healthy during the pregnancy to what to do after it was born to even how to feed it. She found it strange at how much he read, cause before this the only time he really picked up a book was study reasons.

She smiled as she let her thoughts drift away through the night.

…

The next morning Pepper was eating a bowl of cheesy chips cause she was was craving something cheesy and crispy. It wasn't strange at all to have these kind of cravings, cause after all she was pregnant. She had the oddest cravings, but they were reasonable. Mostly. She obsessed over pickles the moment her cravings kicked in. She then moved on to eating spray cheese plain, then to sliced pickles on crackers. The weirdest and the most unreasonable craving she had was peanut butter on oranges with honey as a dip.

She was just glad that she only threw up once last night and once more in the morning as she woke up. Her sore neck was almost history with only a slight tingly feeling left behind. Which was a least something she could deal with. She could easily just rest her head as the ache came back then it would feel better than it had the moment before.

Tony was as usual, reading a book. This time it was focused on how to hold the baby and how to hold it when it was choking. Health related stuff. She had to tease him about his new obsession the instant he pulled the book out. He was just setting himself up for it. If he wanted to avoid it, then well he better just deal with it because she wasn't about to leave him alone.

Also that morning she shared her news about the baby having a heartbeat already, and she almost regretted saying a word. Tony was instantly only paying attention to her stomach. He was constantly trying ti feel the heartbeat. She had to laugh at that. Though she almost could have died laughing when he convinced himself that he actually found it. She seriously doubted because she couldn't feel it and the baby was inside of her. But the face he made when he 'found' it, was far too cute to destroy.

Now she was rolling up the bag of cheesy chips and moving to stand up. She could feel Tony's gaze slip from his book to her and she shook her head. Honestly it was both cute and annoying how protective and obsessive he was being. He was always protective and it was fine, but now she couldn't sit down without his worried eyes looking at her. She liked saying that it was just how he usually was and was only acting a little over normal, but she knew he was worrying pretty much 10 times more than usual.

She understood that now she was caring for not only herself, but their baby. Two people. So it was only expected for his worry to double. With his worry always triple what a normal husbands would be, his worry is paranoia. Its the fear he always has. Which she always takes a moment to appreciate the care, but she can never help but try to stop his worry. So far she only freed herself from his need to call her almost four times a day at her desk at work just to check in.

"So," she started. "Today's a day off so what do you want to do?"

Tony set his book down and pursed his lips. "Well, I was hoping to start that upgrade on the armor, but if you have something else on your mind, I'd love to do it."

She smiled. He did too much for her it wasn't funny. "Maybe for half the day we could hang out. Maybe fit a movie or two in then, I'll leave you to the armor upgrade."

"Sounds good." Tony agreed.

So as planned, they slipped in a movie. They sat cuddled up on the couch with a good assortment of smacks and watched the movie. Not too long later they finished a movie and still in the mood, and not yet out of good movie smacks, they popped in another movie. Pepper at the end of one of the movies got really emotional and started to bawl her eyes out. It took tony quite awhile to calm her down. At the end of the other movie, she got really mad and almost chucked the remote at the TV in attempt to kill the villain on the TV.

When that movie ended, the figured it was still early enough to still do something together and pepper suggested they play a game. So they spent the next couple hours playing scrabble and pictionary. Tony won the scrabble and a few rounds of pictionary. Pepper won the majority of the pictionary rounds though. They ate after ending up missing lunch and setting on a very off time dinner.

Tony departed to go work on his suit and she read her books. She continued her research. When she finished she turned to cleaning up the already clean house. Except she went to more extremes, not really, but she began dusting off every ledge and every corner. She rearranged how photos were placed and even how the table was set.

She found herself sitting in her room in the chair they had placed in their room, holding the book she was almost finished with. Though it didn't take long for her to get real hungry and move to the kitchen for some food. It was dinner time after all. Or the late dinner time.

So she cooked up a meal after calling Tony and telling him that she was cooking. He told her he had to finish something so that he could leave the armor with it still able to work, but still able to be worked on the next day. She guessed that meant he didn't want to pull an all nighter. So when she finished cooking it she only had to wait a few minutes until Tony walked in.

It was actually a pretty uneventful night, other than the fact that JARVIS decided it was good to break down, but it was an easy fix for Tony. In fact, he actually fixed that little bug he had. So now, it was a fully functional AI.

Pepper didn't really care if Jarvis worked or not. She only cared that Tony was up and moving because she was _not _raising a baby alone. That, she knew. She only cared that he was there, and that she loved him.

**I really hope i did good, because writing this much on my kindle is HARD. Which by the way, my kindle broke, like it won't charge no more and i've had the same issue with the previous kindles i had...YEAH right now, i'm on my third kindle, because i've had to return my other ones and they had to send a new one that worked, which can't happen no more...well, its a long story you don't need to hear about anymore...****Well, other than the fact that this is why "Day at a Bank" got all mixed up...all the rest of the story is on my broken Kindle...:(  
**

**ANYWAYS, sorry for boring you guys to death with my issue with kindles...and I hope you guys liked the chapter! :D  
**

**Oh wait, i almost forgot, I decided to put JARVIS in the story, because i love the relation between the two...i think i've might have told you that before, but i'm not sure if it was a story i started on my kindle that i can no longer reach...well, yeah, Jarvis won't be a big part of the story, cause well basically the story is in Pepper POV, but you'll see Jarvis when I do Tony's POV when we get farther into the story...well GOODBYE for now!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, so like i promised, I have updated this story! :) This is probably one of the more longer chapters of this story. It even had to be cut in two parts. Otherwise, it would have been a bit too long. Though, some of you might disagree... I dunno, i just decided to put the rest in a new chapter. **

**Disclaimer: IMAA is not mine, and no it never will be.  
**

October 19th (14 weeks pregnant)

Pepper at the moment was eating her lunch. She actually was thinking quite hard. In both a book she read and a doctor she saw, told her that at around 14 weeks pregnant, it was safe to announce it to everyone without the fear of losing the child in a miscarriage. Though, she never really though about that.

Though, now, she was just glad that never happened, because she then would've gotten so excited over nothing. She shook her head. She shouldn't think of that. It wasn't something she should worry about anymore.

She dropped the subject and began brainstorming ideas on how to tell their family. She knew they couldn't throw a party to announce it because it was too suspicious. It wasn't anyone's birthday. She didn't want to send out letters to them individually. That wouldn't be as fun as seeing their reaction. That was the best part. She didn't get to see Tony's face, but she woke up to something of the sort.

She spent her whole lunch break brainstorming ideas on how she and Tony could break the news. It wasn't as easy as some people say. She hears some people say it's just best to come straight forward and tell them, but she disagrees. Especially since it's pretty much a one time thing, for some people and she was almost sure this was going to be her only time. With Iron man and Tony and herself hardly being home, it was hardly reasonable to add to the family more than they needed to.

That really got her thinking. This was her first child and she could hardly imagine what her life would be like after she did give birth. She didn't want to even think of hiring a babysitter, since the chances are, there will be many overnight stays for whoever that nanny was. And that meant the child would basically be growing up with the babysitter instead of it's own parents. She didn't want that.

She'd have to talk to Tony about that later. For now, she had to return to her work.

…

Pepper was more than happy to return home. She was even more happy that she didn't have to run to the toilet so she could throw up in it. Finally that morning sickness had left. Well, it had left a little over a week before, but she was still celebrating the non-sore neck. Even her cravings had calmed down, though she never stopped craving freezy's.

The instant she stepped in the door with Tony right behind her she went straight for the couch. She closed her eyes as if she was going to nap, but she didn't want to nap. No matter how tired she was. She still wanted to talk to Tony.

"Tony?" She asked when he plopped down on the couch next to them.

"What?" He responded taking her hand as she turned to face him.

"We have to talk about somethings."

His eyebrows furrowed in worry. "Is something wrong? Do you need help?" His eyes flickered from her eyes to her stomach and back to her eyes.

She laughed. "No, no! Everything's going fine!"

He sighed in relief. "Then what's up?"

"In any of those books you've read does any of them explain what goes on through the weekly stages of a pregnancy?" She questioned.

"Not that I remember." He replied.

"Well, I'm at my fourteenth week, which means, its safe to say I won't miscarriage. Meaning, we have to break the news to everyone."

His eyes widened immediately. "Already?"

"I'm not going to be pregnant forever you know!" She joked. "But seriously, I don't know what to do!"

His raised an eyebrow signaling to her that he didn't understand.

"I mean, I don't know how we should tell them."She said. "Oh, and we are not going to send them letters."

"No letters check." Tony noted.

They spent the next hour, (maybe two) brainstorming ideas for how to break the news. So far, they came up with little success. One of the few ideas, was very involved with Halloween. Another one involved fortune cookies, another one included a photo, and another was some kind of restaurant meeting. It all sounded so fun and exciting, that they couldn't decide.

"What one's your favorite?" Pepper asked Tony.

He pursed his lips as he thought. "I don't know..."

He ended up sharing his favorite to her a minute later and she had agreed with him.

So now, for the remaining time before Pepper decided it was time to make dinner, they went deeper into the idea. By the time they finished planning, everything was just about perfect. Pepper could only hope that everything went as they had planned. It would really suck if it didn't work.

Though, she didn't dwell on the negative part of the plan. She just stuck to the positive side, cause it was family anyways, and if something went wrong they could easily explain what they meant. And still get the same satisfying result. Just it wouldn't be as creative, and being Pepper, she _loved _being creative and different for things.

With a smile and a kiss, she got up to go cook dinner for the two. Now all they had to do, was put the plan in action, before the others found out before the plan could finish.

…

(One week later) – Saturday

At some point with in the week that they continued to make their plans, they had come up with a new idea. Instead of telling everyone at once, like they had originally planned, they decided to tell Rhodey and Mabel first, since they had invited them over for dinner the next day. Then they decided to tell Howard and Roberta when they came over to visit for Pepper's birthday. Rhodey and Mabel were going to be there as well, and they hopefully would keep the surprise a secret.

At the moment they were spending their free time like they did when they were still in high school, in the armory. She messed with the computer while Tony fixed up the armor. At some point, just as she was going to try to talk to Tony about something, Rhodey had walked in. Not that she minded. It was actually nice to see him. They never had to time to see each other at the same time nowadays.

"Hey Tony, Pepper." He said nodding to Pepper as he made his way next to Tony.

Tony looked up surprised. "Oh, hey Rhodey."

"Finally found time to fix War Machine?" Rhodey said referring to the armor Tony was working on.

It was true, that in a recent battle War Machines systems broke down, and it was pretty dented. Tony, being a bit more busy than usual with the company, didn't have time to fix the armor. Sometimes it wasn't fun being the genius of the group.

"I've been busy." Tony said.

"I know. Works been crazy!" Rhodey said throwing his hands up.

Rhodey did work for Stark Solutions, but he had one of the more tiring rolls. He had to travel a lot to sign off deals for new technology Stark Solutions was selling or buying. He made sure the packages were safe and correctly done. Plus, he convinced Tony to help make new technology for the army and he dealt with most of those things.

It was pretty rare too see these three together. At least in their old hide out. Now that they all had homes, and Rhodey had a family of his own to take care of, they normally met up at lunch hour, or on day offs at either of their homes. Though, Tony being Tony, sometimes didn't show up to work, and missed a ton of meetings. Though, most of the time it was for the armor or the city. Mostly.

"You traveled off somewhere again didn't you?" Tony asked.

"Nah, you haven't agreed to anything lately. So I've been doing paperwork and trying to fend off you're angry business partners." Rhodey said jokingly.

Tony laughed. "Well, that's business for you. Have they been bugging you?"

"No, I was kidding man!" Rhodey said with a laugh.

Tony shook his head. Business sometimes sucked. He just sighed and returned to his work with the War machine armor. Pepper soon joined the two in small talk, but she soon left when she got extra hungry. The two following her example not too long afterwords. They said their goodbyes and Rhodey went home as well as Tony.

When Tony returned, Pepper was waiting for him. She had already ate and had informed him that it was a fend for yourself day, meaning, he had to make something for himself to eat, or heat up leftovers. Though, first she said she wanted to talk about something. So, they sat down on the couch so they could talk.

"I was thinking the other day." Pepper started. "You know, about after the baby's born..."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Already?"

"Well, yeah." Pepper responded.

"Okay, sorry, go on."

"I realized that when the baby is born, and that we work so much, we would need to hire a babysitter, which I don't mind doing, its just that their might be times that we have to work late, and we wont see him or her at all that day. And soon, the baby will grow up without as much attention from it's parents."

Pepper paused looking to Tony, who looked confused as if he was trying to find out where she was going with this. "What I'm trying to say, is that I don't want our baby to grow up with pretty much just a babysitter. I want him or her to grow up with us by his side – or hers..."

"You want to quit your job."

She looked down feeling guilty. They had built that company together. Him, Rhodey, and herself. They started it in high school and now, its the world's leading technology company. It even topped above Hammer Multinational and Stark International. "Yeah..."

"Oh okay." Tony said understanding.

"But," She added quickly. "Not yet!"

"I know, and I understand. One of us would have to be there for the baby at all times. And that person is you. It's okay." Tony said trying to cheer her up.

"I know."

"Trust me, if you're worrying about payment on the house, don't be. I make more than enough for the both of us. No matter how expensive it gets for the medical attention you need."

Pepper smiled, feeling much brighter about quitting. She had nothing to worry about. Nothing. He understood perfectly and was actually encouraging her to. Which, normal families, wouldn't encourage the other to quit their job, but Tony wasn't normal. Plus, he was right. They made plenty of money already. He made enough alone as it was.

Pepper then laughed when a though came to her head. "Just try not to waste all that money on donations for charity."

Tony chuckled and stole a quick kiss. "I won't."

Her heart could have melted then and there. She loved him way too much. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mrs. Stark." He said teasingly then kissed her.

…

Pepper was holding Tony's hand as they walked in their friends house. Their house was really warm and cozy. It was _cold _outside. They could tell it was going to be one cold winter this year.

"PEPPER!" Mabel nearly screeched as she squeezed Pepper in a hug.

"Good to see you too, Mabel." Pepper said patting her friends back.

Pepper stepped back and Tony wrapped his arm around Pepper's waist. She smiled.

"Come!" Mabel said already jumping in excitement. "I've got dinner ready already."

"Already?" Tony asked. "I thought, it'd take longer than that."

"Nah," Rhodey said. "Mabel wouldn't make you guys wait. Plus she wants to save the hanging out for later."

"Oh, I see."

"Mommy!" Theo's voice screeched from across the house.

"Coming honey!" Mabel called back sweetly.

She wondered off to the other side of the house, which was the kitchen, and she helped the crabby 16 month old baby. The others followed her. The kitchen smelt like a heaven. Especially to Pepper who, was definitely in the mood for something salty. And it sure smelt salty.

"What did you cook!?" Pepper asked a bit too appalled.

"My secret recipe!" Mabel said winking. "Just kidding, it's Roberta's not so secret recipe for beef stew."

"Mm-mm!" Pepper said already dragging Tony to their seats.

Mabel set the table and they started to eat. Pepper was almost the first done. Almost, being that Rhodey had already finished his within minutes of serving. He loved Mabel's cooking. But everyone did. She did work as a chef at a high ranked restaurant. Almost 5 stars. Almost.

When they had finished their meals, they cleaned up and set up 'camp' in the playroom, as Pepper demanded she had some play time with Theo. After all he was her favorite nephew.

"Who's a handsome boy?" She said with her baby voice. "I know you are!"

She continued to blow raspberries at the young baby as he laughed and laughed. At some point he tried using Pepper's finger as a teething toy, since he was getting more teeth in. She had just laughed and handed him a real teething toy.

"I love you so much, you know that?" She asked the baby. "You're Auntie Pepper loves you most."

"No, I do!" Mabel said smiling.

"Nah, I don't think anyone can love you as much as I do." Pepper said.

Then they started the whole contest to see who Theo loved best. By trying to get him to crawl over to whoever it was that he loved most. Though, in the end, it must have been a tie, or he loved Rhodey the most because Rhodey had just walked in the room, as he and Tony were talking about something in the other room, and Theo crawled right over to him.

"Oh, we almost forgot!" Pepper said said as she and Tony were leaving. She actually didn't forget, she was just waiting.

"What?" Both Rhodey and Mabel asked.

Rhodey was holding Theo in his arms, who was teething, as he almost always was. He was a baby after all.

Pepper dug around in her purse for a moment and pulled out two fortune cookies. She couldn't stop smiling. Part of what she loved about this plan, was that she didn't know who was going to get the right fortune cookie that had the message in it. It could go to Rhodey or it could go to Mabel. They just had to wait.

She held her arm out. "Take one."

They both grabbed one of the two fortune cookies, that Pepper and Tony had custom made just for this. She watched with butterflies in her stomach. She was so nervous. She looked up to Tony, who looked perfectly calm. Except for the fact that he was biting his bottom lip. Other than that, he looked like his normal self. Good. At least he could keep the straight face she needed.

Rhodey was the first to open his cookie to read the fortune cookie. They got lucky that the two wanted to eat them right away. She also, bit her bottom lip in attempt to calm herself down. It worked, but only a bit. By the look on his face as he read the fortune, meant he didn't get the one.

Then she turned her attention to Mabel, who was just opening the bag of the cookie. She wanted to close her eyes and wait for the impact. Mabel wasn't going to go gentle. She was already preparing for the bone crushing hug...and the ear splitting screams. Mabel was like that. She was the most loud, enthusiastic, loving person, you'd probably ever meet.

By now, she was pulling the message out. She was about to toss one half of the cookie into her mouth, when she must have finished reading the fortune. For she had dropped the cookie all together in shock. Rhodey looked at her with some concern.

"Mabel?" Rhodey asked placing a hand on her arm.

Mabel just put on the _biggest _smile EVER. Her attention directing at Pepper. Pepper just looked at her nervously. Just waiting for the news to fully sink in. She already knew that she was doomed to a world of crushing, breath stealing hugs.

Mabel, finally accepting the news, started to scream happily. "PEPPER! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME! OOOH! WHY'D YOU NOT TELL ME SOONER!?"

Then she was ramming into her for the biggest hug she'd ever received. And that was saying a lot. Pepper let out a strangled sound and she even heard Tony chuckling.

"Oh, I wouldn't be laughing." Mabel said over Pepper's shoulders. "You're next."

He stopped instantly. Once Mabel finished her forever long hug, she rammed right into Tony. She hugged the breath out of him before she hugged them both together in one big squished hug.

"Okay..." Rhodey started. "What is going on?"

Mabel jumped up with a squeal and turned around with a smile. She handed him her fortune and he read it aloud. "It says: A baby is in your future."

For a moment he stood there dumbstruck, but then he gasped. "TONY!"

Then he just started to laugh almost historically. He walked over Tony and Pepper and patted their shoulders. "Welcome to parenthood."

They laughed with him.

"Congrats!" Mabel said as she now held a giggling Theo. "I was so waiting for this day!"

"Yeah, congrats!" Rhodey said. "It took you long enough."

"I'll let you in on a secret." Pepper said leaning in close with a small smirk. "The first three times, it didn't work!"

"Jeez, that little guy made you two work hard."

Tony lightly pushed his best friend with a laugh. "_We _should be going."

"Aw man! I wish you could stay longer!" Mabel complained.

"Sorry, but we do have work tomorrow." Pepper said.

"Since when did Tony care about work?" Rhodey asked.

Tony rolled his eyes and they finished up their goodbyes. And finally after a long day, Tony and Pepper cuddled up together in a warm bed. Now all they had to do was break the news to Roberta and Howard. Since they were the closest to them. Then after that, it was all up to Pepper, if she wanted to share it to the public or not.

"I love you." Tony said before any of them could fall asleep.

"I love you too." Pepper responded.

**The ending like the _very _ending was a bit rushed, i know. Sorry, but hey, you're used to it. Well i really hoped you like that one. It was extra long just for you guys! :) **

**Okay, on my profile, I have a poll, What do you think the gender will be? Boy or girl? So, go on! Go to my profile and answer it! I already know what it is, but i want to see what you guys think it is. Maybe for those of you who are correct, i'll write you a story of your request, (I will anyways, right or wrong) I'll just put it to the top of my list :) Not much else i can give, if so, tell me!  
**

**Fun fact time: _When I was about 5, i had an imaginary friend, that got eaten by a shark when we went to Florida. (True story!) I actually believed she was eaten by a shark and i was so sad and i even freaked out my neighbors when i told them my friend was eaten by a shark._**

**Okay, aside from the fun fact, have any of you seen the movie "Lifted"? I watched it yesterday, and it was so sad! :( If you haven't you really should, its on Netfix too. If you don't want to watch it, at least listen to the song, "I miss you, by Uriah Shelton." The movie is so sad and moving. If you like that kind of movie. I'll tell you its about a kid who's father left to fight in Afghanistan and the kid loves to sing, and he needs to win a contest for him and his mother, who live with her dad. **

**That's all i need to say, but i highly suggest you watch that movie if you haven't. I admit, i cried a few times. Well, i hoped you enjoyed the story! Biya~!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Finally, i finished this! :) It was hard! But be happy that it's long! I was planning to keep it much shorter than this, but i was just having too much fun writting it, it ended up being longer so YAY! **

**Disclaimer: IMAA will never be owned by me. I'd say the world would have to end first for that to happen...**

(Three days later – October 29)

Pepper was practically jumping in her seat. Today was the day that Tony and she tell their parents. Pepper's dad was supposed to be out of town on her birthday, so she wasn't exactly expecting him, but he called asking if she had any free time. She told him of the dinner at her house, and he was more than excited to come over and visit.

Pepper sat at the table already snacking on the veggies she left out on the table. Tony was having some odd conversation she didn't understand with Jarvis. He was quite helpful to have around. When she didn't know something, she could easily ask Jarvis. Unless Tony was around. Then she could easily ask him. But plus, Jarvis could order her food! She loved getting food from him. Though, Howard and the other older adults didn't know of this Jarvis. Tony didn't really want to at the times they had visited and it was just their luck that he wasn't working due to technical difficulties when Tony did want to show him. They've heard of Jarvis though.

At the moment, besides their current activities, they were waiting for the party to arrive. It wasn't really a party, but Theo was going to be there. She couldn't help but be so excited. Plus, the pressure of sharing the news was all the more exciting. And it also made her nervous. She wasn't so nervous with Mabel and Rhodey, because they were her best friends. But their parents? That was the hard one.

DING DONG.

She nearly jumped out of her skin. She called out to Tony, breaking his focused conversation. "Yeah?"

"Can you answer the door?" She asked. "I'll follow in a minute. I need to talk to Jarvis about something."

"You want to order more food don't you?" Tony asked slowly as the doorbell rang again.

She felt heat rise up to her cheeks and she nodded sheepishly. "Uh huh."

"Go on ahead." Tony said. "You are the birthday girl."

Tony left to go answer the door and in came Howard and Roberta. They said their greetings and walked up the stairs. Tony led them to where Pepper stood in the kitchen wearing a sweater and sweatpants. She was talking to somebody, but it didn't look like she was on the phone to them.

"Is it so wrong to be hungry?" She asked laughing. "I mean seriously, those people think I'm going to eat everything myself! I do have other people visiting today."

"I agree, Mrs. Stark." An accented voice spoke out. The two parents jumped. Howard not as much, but Roberta, yeah, she jumped. "People are too quick to judge."

"Thank you!" She said. Then she turned around to go greet the guests, but stopped when she saw them behind her. "Oh, hi."

"Hey Pepper." Howard and Roberta replied.

"Who was that you were talking to?" Howard asked curious to what kind of technology this was. He had an idea, but he wasn't quite sure.

"Oh that was Jarvis!" Pepper squealed. "The AI that runs the house."

"An AI?" Howard questioned.

Tony was the one that responded. "Yep. Jarvis. Just. A. Rather. Very. Intelligent. System. He also my armors new operating system. The old one, was just far too literal when I asked it something."

Later they were eating, and the rest of the party had arrived. Mabel continued to eye Pepper as if she was begging to say something. Mabel was not the person you would ask to be patient. She was too excitable. Luckily, she and Tony already had an idea to break the news.

"So what are you so happy about? Roberta asked her daughter-in-law.

Pepper shot her friend a warning glare telling her not to say anything. Mabel sighed happily with a nod directed at Pepper, but to Roberta. "Just Halloween is in two days! Excited to dress Theo up! Plus, Pepper is having a birthday!"

Pepper sighed in relief. She would be all so upset if Mabel gave their secret away. But Mabel continued to eat happily, still excited to hear the news once more. Pepper could see that Mabel wanted to say it, but was forcing herself not to say anything. Rhodey kept holding her hand and try to distract her by kissing her. Which Pepper or Tony would probably make a comment on that, but for now, it seemed to be keeping Mabel's excitement at bay.

After the meal, Tony went with Rhodey to go get the cake. Roberta offered to help with the candles, but Tony directed her to stay seated at the table. Now, it was Pepper that was bouncing in her seat, whispering things to her best friend.

The lights were soon dimmed down and in came Rhodey and Tony who were carrying the cake in their arms. The candles were illuminated the room and almost instantly everyone began to sing the happy birthday song, no matter how old Pepper was. Once the song was finished the cake was already in front of Pepper and she blew out the candles leaving only one lit.

"Ooh, someone's cheating!" Rhodey teased.

But Pepper shook her head as she blew it out. "No, it's not a boyfriend, it's a husband. So no, I'm not cheating."

Tony smiled and bent over and gave her a quick kiss. The lights were turned back on and the cake was cut. While everyone ate, everyone pretty much spread out amongst the house. Tony was chatting to his dad about Jarvis, Roberta and Pepper talked about girl things, Mabel bounced around with Rhodey with the music they finally got Jarvis to play. Virgil was on the phone with his boss, but seemed to be trying to talk himself out of an assignment. It worked.

Later when Pepper and Tony joined Mabel and Rhodey in the living room to dance, the parents all gathered together in the kitchen as they helped clean up the dishes.

"I'm proud of Tony." Roberta said with a smile. "I admit for a while when he was a teen, he had me worried."

"Yeah, Pepper too." Virgil replied. "She worried me when she came home late every night."

"I'm just glad he found someone to take care of him." Howard said looking through the archway that led to the living room, where they could easily see the young adults dancing and messing around almost like they were teens again.

"Yep, Rhodey never shut up about it. I would think it would be Tony, but no, it was Rhodey who was excited about Tony liking a girl." Roberta commented.

"I wish I was there." Howard said. "But at least I'm here now."

There was a scream coming from the room next to them and they looked over again. Mabel stood on the back of the couch, shaking while Rhodey tried to coax her to coming down while Pepper marched into the kitchen and grabbed a wooden spoon. She smiled at the confused adults and walked back into the living room. They followed her.

Tony was getting up rubbing his cheek and Pepper was running around smacking the ground with the wooden spoon she grabbed a minute earlier.

"What happened?" Roberta asked.

"There was a rat I think." Tony replied, rubbing his cheek as he walked over.

"Got it!" Pepper yelled out.

She stood up straight, with her hands on her hips. She then frowned as she looked down. "Darn it! That's going to stain! Tony get over here."

Tony nodded and walked away from the adults. He looked down at the dead rat on the ground. "Eww, I think we should go buy rat traps."

"Really, captain obvious?" Pepper said.

"Just saying." He replied.

He got a tissue from nearby and picked it up holding it at arm's length as he walked outside to throw it away.

Pepper got to cleaning it with Roberta and Tony returned inside. Later, when they all calmed down, they were all in the living room watching TV and chatting.

"I say we take a picture." Pepper suggested.

Everyone agreed and she and Tony walked off to go find their camera. Inside their room, Pepper couldn't stop smiling.

"I cannot wait!" Pepper said. "I could just explode!"

"Well, for your sake, I hope you don't." Tony said giving her a kiss. "You ready?"

She nodded and grabbed the tripod to carry the camera. Together they walked out of the room with Pepper holding the camera and tripod to her chest. Tony chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"Aren't you excited?" She questioned quietly.

"Of course." Tony said smiling. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She didn't answer instead she squealed and went to set up the camera in front of the already positioned group. Tony stood beside her and put an arm around her waist, giving her his comfort. She smiled at him and winked at him whispering, "You ready?"

He nodded and she looked over at the people in front of the camera.

"You guys going to use a timer?" Howard asked. "So you can join in?"

"Nah, we just want it to be you guys." Tony responded.

"Okay, so what do we say then?" Roberta questioned.

"Cheese!" Pepper said.

"Cheese!" They said smiling. Even Theo was smiling, while he drooled all over his tiny fist. Pepper snapped the picture.

"Okay, another one." Pepper said.

Tony smiled the spoke up. "Now, say 4/19."

Almost instantly Pepper snapped a few pictures. It showed confused faces, thinking faces, and suspicious faces. Well, Rhodey, Mabel, and Theo didn't, but the older adults did.

"One more!" Pepper said. This time she switched it over to video and pretended she was going to take a picture. She pressed the button quickly, then continued to pretend that she was about to press for a picture.

Pepper looked to Tony who nodded and they held hands. Pepper was going to say it, but he was going to be there by her side when she was ready. He pulled her closer a bit and she looked to the family ahead of them.

She bit her lip once before she started. "Now, say 'I'm pregnant!'"

Then she waited.

"I'm pr- wait what!?" Virgil was the first to say something.

The other two were just staring at them dumbstruck. There was silence for a minute before it all went crazy. Mabel started to scream happily and Rhodey tried to calm Theo down from the startle Mabel gave him. Roberta rammed the two in a hug that rivalled Mabel's hugs. She started to cry as well. Tony wondered what it was like for Rhodey when he told her the news about him and Mabel. Tony wasn't there. His dad was smiling a smile that definitely rivalled that of a kid with a lollipop. Virgil had already stole his daughter away from Roberta and started crying about his daughter growing up too much. Which was the same speech he gave her when they got married.

"I knew it!" Roberta cried out. "You two _were_ hiding something!"

"Well, it wasn't easy when _Mabel _over there, kept staring at me." Pepper said patting her stomach.

"I couldn't help it!" Mabel squealed. "My best friend is having a baby! A BABY! You know how precious and exciting that is!"

"Yeah, I do." Pepper said.

"Is 4/19 the due date or something?" Mabel questioned.

Pepper nodded in response.

"Son." Howard said to the distracted Tony. "I'm proud."

Tony turned red, but nodded. "Thanks."

"My daughter…" Virgil began.

"Dad, I'm fine." Pepper said.

Virgil's eyes widened as if he remembered something. "Have you been sick? Are you hungry? Are you craving something? Do you need anything? Food, water, books, toys, furniture…? How do you feel? How…"

"Dad!" Pepper said giving him a hug. "Not sick, but morning sickness, and that passed by a few weeks ago, dreadful thing it was…, no I'm not really hungry…well sort of… not craving nothing, yet, and no I don't need anything at the moment."

Virgil returned the hug. Pepper pulled back first and rushed to Howard to give him a hug. "Thanks."

"For what?" He asked her.

"Just thanks for being the best Father-in-law!" Pepper said.

"You're welcome then."

Pepper pulled back from Howard with a smile. She stepped back and stood by Tony who was talking to Rhodey and Theo.

"Ooh Pepper, are you showing!?" Mabel questioned jumping up and down eying Pepper's stomach that was hidden under a large sweater.

Pepper felt her face heat up and she nodded. "Hardly, but yeah."

Mabel squealed and practically assaulted Pepper, by pulling her shirt up before she stared at Pepper's slightly bulging stomach. "AWWWWW!"

"Babeh?" Theo's little voice questioned.

Rhodey looked down to his son. "Yeah, a baby. Auntie Pepper is having a baby!"

Theo giggled and sucked on his hand.

Pepper yawned tiredly as she attempted to pull her shirt down with Mabel protesting that she hadn't looked long enough.

"You look tired." Roberta commented. "We should go."

"No, it's fine." Pepper insisted.

"No," Virgil said. "You and Tony are going to go to sleep the instant we leave."

"Why me?" Tony asked pulling his hand out of Theo's grip.

"Because, I will not allow you to leave my Pepper alone in a cold bed especially now that she's carrying my grandkid."

Tony nodded quickly with a small smile. "I have to get to work early anyways."

"Which you'll most likely be late again." Pepper said.

Tony pouted and they all laughed. Soon enough after hanging out for a little bit longer they were all out of the house. At least after Roberta gave a bit long lecture to the two young adults about babies. Either way, they had left and Pepper was yawning at the door.

"You really are tired aren't you?" Tony said hugging her.

"Yeah, I've had a long day."

"Well, that's how birthdays are."

"I'm so excited for the next appointment." Pepper said tiredly.

"Why's that?"

"Did you forget that's the date we find out if it's a boy or girl if we want to?"

Tony laughed scratching his neck. "Kinda…but, now I know and I'm excited too!"

Pepper yawned again just as Tony swooped her up into his arms, bridal style. He hugged her close to him as he walked them up to their room. Just before he laid her down on the bed he kissed her for a moment before he walked to the bathroom to brush his teeth. After he was don't Pepper brushed her own and they cuddled up together in bed.

"Happy birthday, Pep." Tony whispered. "Love you."

"Love you too."

**Ha, cheesy ending! :) Well, i hope you guys liked this chapter! It was difficult, but fun. **

**Oh and an extra reminder about voting if its a boy or girl. Remember its on my page and all you gotta do is click on one. I'm thinking about closing the poll somewhere around Friday or Sunday of next week. But yeah...So far you guys are pretty spot on. So yippee!**

**Fun Fact: _I have a habit of tripping up the stairs and hugging the floor...not to mention the wrestling lessons doors and walls love to teach me... _**

**Okay, in social studies, we're doing this moch trial thing and I'm two witnesses. Sally Shine and Ronald Riff. Turns out, Sally is Ronald's girlfriend and Ronald is accused of robbing a store. When we picked rolls, we didn't know who was who...so yeah, its just funny how things ended up...had to share.**

**Well, I'm off and I'll be working on Realization next. Especially since i left it at such a horrible cliffhanger. MWAHAHA!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, here's the new chapter! I've been so busy lately, but now it's spring brake! :) Though, sadly I might not be here for the whole spring break, because i'm supposed to go visit family out of Town from Thursday to Easter, when I'll just go some place else, then i have one day off before school starts up again. Ugh, i hate how I never get a break even on a break. -.-**

**Haytar96, I've got some of the first chapter of what you requested, but idea's for this chapter, wouldn't stop coming, and it didn't at all help, that i was gone all of last weekend. And when i finally got to trying to finish off the first chapter, i got a horrible migraine, and i couldn't concentrate enough to even read.**

**Disclaimer: IMAA is not mine, I own nothing, sadly...**

* * *

(November 2nd – 16 weeks pregnant)

Pepper sat on the couch with a book in her lab. She flipped through the pages, mindlessly as she waited for Tony to get home from the lab. It was late, but she didn't care. Not only was she used to waiting, she was too anxious to sleep.

At some point of waiting, she got hungry so she slipped into the kitchen, conversing with Jarvis as she did, and pulled out some pickles and crackers to snake on. She now sat at the kitchen table, mindlessly chewing on pickles and crackers. When she finished, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed up her husband.

"Hello?" An exhausted sounding voice said on the other line.

"Hey Tony." She said as she put her snacks away. "Come home."

"Okay, just give me five minutes." Tony replied.

"No, I'm tired, and I want you here now." Pepper said, begging evident in her voice.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." She could hear the smile in his voice, so she smiled too.

"Love you." She said.

"Love you, too sweetheart." Tony replied hanging up.

She spent her time waiting cleaning up a bit of the house, tiredly. The instant she heard his car she was at the door waving at him. She waited in the doorway despite the cold breeze of mid-fall. When he got to the door where she was, she pulled him closer to give him a sloppy kiss, which was returned back just as sloppily. Then she just yawned and dragged him as fast as she could, still allowing him to take off his coat and shoes, to their bed and laid down.

Once they were comfortable, Pepper rolled over with a tired smile. "Two more days!"

Tony just smiled and kissed her on the forehead. Pepper cuddled up next to him and closed her eyes in instant comfort.

…

The next morning, it was a Saturday, so they had the day off. Pepper started the day off with a warm shower. She stayed in for a little longer than usual thinking about things. Things being; everything. The baby, Tony, herself, iron man, and other little memories she had. She stepped out and after drying off a bit, she wrapped her towel around herself and started to brush her hair.

Deciding to wait to get dressed, she blow dried her hair and looked at her reflection. She put the towel down after grabbing fresh cloths, but remembered Mabel looking at her stomach and got curious herself. So, she turned sideways to get a better look, and realized that it wasn't all that big, but it was still showing. With a look of awe, she traced her fingers around her stomach as she realized that she was actually gaining some weight.

Which wasn't bad at all. It was more healthy the more weight she had, not meaning to gain as much weight as she could, just keep it under control is what her doctor told her.

With a quick shake of her head she got dressed and cleaned the bathroom a bit since Tony wasn't awake yet, but then again, she didn't expect him to be. He always slept in at least past 10 o'clock. Once she finished with that, she started to cook a breakfast and hoped to at least try to wake him up.

"Tony!" She called through the door once she finished breakfast. "Tony, wake up!"

She heard a groan in response. She sighed walking in. "You have to wake up sometime."

She walked over to him and pulled the covers off as she grabbed his hand and started to tug. She wasn't the strongest, but she wasn't trying, because she learned that lifting heavy things while pregnant, was a big no-no. Luckily, Tony wasn't all that hard to pull off the bed.

"What!" He said standing up looking around like a madman. "I'm up!"

Pepper shook her head laughing. "Breakfast is ready if you're not too busy."

"Oh…" Tony said scratching his neck as he followed his wife out to the kitchen where pancakes were.

They ate a peaceful breakfast, that is, before the whole house seemed to shake from some kind of explosion. Pepper who was putting away some clean dishes dropped the plate she was carrying as she grabbed onto the counter. Tony was in the other room looking for paperwork for the following Monday, that he must have lost again, but fell onto the chair next to him. Once the shaking stopped, he rushed over to where he heard the glass.

"Pepper!" Tony cried out.

"Tony, what was that?" She asked picking up some of the glass.

"I don't know, but Pep, should you be picking up broken glass like that?" Tony asked eying her hands. "Why don't you use a broom or ask Jarvis?"

"Oh, I forgot…" She said trying to look outside the window to see what happened.

"I called the armor, it should be here any minute now." Tony said leading Pepper to the front window.

"What happened to the armor backpack?"

"Still working on some last minute tune ups, shouldn't be in fighting conditions, only flight." Tony said as they got to the window.

Once seeing what was out there, Pepper gasped and backed away as she saw figures walking towards their house. In the middle of the street was what looked like a plane of some sort, which was crashed down, destroying most of the street they lived on.

Tony wrapped a protective arm around Pepper and walked away from the window. Using extremis, Tony summoned the back pack armor and handed it to Pepper. She took it not sure what it was going to be used for if it could only fly.

"What-?" She started, but Tony covered her mouth and shushed her.

"Take this and fly to Rhodey's, make sure Mabel and Theo are okay, and tell Rhodey to connect with me, I don't know if I need help or not." Tony said.

"But-" She said as he pulled away.

"No, you can't help," Tony said sternly. "As good as a fighter as you are, it doesn't change that you're pregnant, Pep. I don't want to risk anything happening to you or the baby."

Pepper blinked, surprised, but nodded her head and put the armor on. With a wave to Tony as he headed out to meet with whoever it was, she flew out the back door.

…

"Tony?" Rhodey called as iron man landed on his lawn, where he was playing with Theo until Mabel finished taking her shower. "Wait, Pepper!?" He said noticing the change of shape in the armor.

"Rhodey!" She called armoring down. "Everything okay here?"

Rhodey started at her confused. "Yeah…is something wrong?"

"Yeah, I don't really know what's going on, but something…crash landed or something in out street, and they were heading towards the house-"

"Whoa!" Rhodey said with wide eyes. "Is Tony alright?"

Pepper nodded. "Yeah, he told me to come here to make sure Mabel and Theo are safe, while you are supposed to connect with him."

"On it." Rhodey said. "Can I borrow that?"

"It can't fight, it can only fly." Pepper said.

"I only need it to get to the armory and fast." Rhodey said.

Without another word she handed the armor off to Rhodey. He blasted off into the air and into the direction of the armory. She didn't wait to hoist Theo up on her hip and headed into the house where she saw Mabel heading down the stairs of their home to go outside when she saw Pepper, she smiled.

"Hey Pepper!" She said giving her a hug.

"Hey Mabel." Pepper replied handing Theo to his mother.

Mabel eyed Pepper for a moment, before narrowing her eyes. "What's wrong? Don't you tell me it's nothing, because I can see it in your face that something's wrong."

Pepper sighed as they went and sat down on a couch. "I don't know how to explain it really…"

"Is it Tony?" Mabel questioned. "Is it about the baby!?"

Pepper smiled lightly to assure her panicked friend. "No, it's not the baby."

"Then is it some kind of Iron man thing? I mean, is that were Rhodey flew off to? I saw him flying of in the iron man suit."

"I guess you could say that." Pepper said. "Some kind of plane thing crashed down in the street at our house. I mean, I'm just worried because there was a figure walking towards out house."

Mabel shuddered a bit. "Creepy. Do you think its aliens? Or a super villain!?"

"I don't know, but Tony just told me to come here to make sure you're safe and that Rhodey knew about what's happening."

Theo started to cry and Mabel bounced the boy on her knees, causing the boy to start to giggle. Mabel and Pepper both smiled.

"So, onto less depressing topics, do you know the sex yet?" Mabel asked her eyes flickering to Peppers stomach.

"No," Pepper started with a smile. "Tony and I are supposed to find out tomorrow, but with whatever's going on, we might not be able to. We might need to reschedule."

"That stinks!" Mabel cried out.

"I know." Pepper said.

Mable thought for a moment. "So, do you think Tony will be a good dad?"

Pepper blinked in surprise, before she laughed. "I'm sure, he'll turn into the normal Tony once the baby's born, but I still think he will make a great dad."

"What do you mean 'normal' Tony?" Mabel asked. "Is he even normal?"

"I mean, he'll just return to being busy, busy, busy again, but I wouldn't change that, it just makes seeing him all the more precious." Pepper said, unconsciously laying a hand on her stomach.

"So, what about you?" Mabel inquired.

"What about me?"

"Do you think you will be a good mother?"

Pepper paused for a moment, really not sure how to reply to that. Would she be a good mother? Could she be a good mother? She never really thought of that much, to be honest. She was just so excited, but she never thought to think if she was ready to be a _good _mother. _Would I be a good mother?_ She asked herself again.

"I wouldn't doubt you would be a great mother." Mabel said almost as if reading Pepper's thoughts.

"You think so?" Pepper asked, then paused as she remembered something. "Were you ever scared?"

Mabel nodded. "Of course I was. It's only natural to be scared. Especially when it's your first time."

Pepper sighed in relief, glad she wasn't necessarily alone. "Thanks, Mabel."

…

Pepper waited for some kind of phone call from Tony telling her that it was safe, that it was okay. As she waited, Mabel started to bake cinnamon rolls while Pepper played around with Theo. Pepper's phone rang once, but it was only Happy calling to see how things were, if she needed a ride somewhere or something. She nicely declined the offer, and chatted some before Theo threw a fit about a toy breaking so she had to hang up.

Though, after about a half hour to an hour, Pepper's phone rang again, this time it was Tony. She answered it on the first ring.

"Tony?" She asked, smiling.

"Hey, Hun." Tony replied.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? What was it? Do you need help?" Pepper asked.

"Whoa, Pep! Calm down, I'm fine, just a little bruised." Tony replied. "It was some guy demanding I give him the arch reactor, but when I said I didn't have any, he sort of didn't like that."

"Don't you have tons?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah, but it the wrong hands, someone could cause major damage, I'm not about to risk the worlds safety over saving myself." Tony said.

Pepper sighed, happy that he was at least alive. "Come pick me up?" She asked.

"Of course."

…

Later that night after Pepper and Tony were ready for bed, Pepper lay flat on her back thinking. Tony was laying funnily because of the 'bruises' he apparently got. She said they were a bit more than bruises, but he insisted he was fine. His chest was almost covered in bruises, which made her suspect he broke a rib or two. And his arm had a clean cut on it.

"One more day!" She whispered excitedly.

"Yep, one more day." Tony said groaning as he tried to face Pepper, but failed when he moved too much.

"I told you to take some meds." Pepper said holding his hand.

"I did." Tony said, of course, he was lying.

"No you didn't." Pepper said. "You hate taking pills, you won't touch liquids, and you always seem to throw up on the chewable, not to mention, you won't go near a needle."

"Hey, I've have tons of bad experiences with needles." Tony defended.

"Yeah, but you won't die from one."

"You never know."

Pepper sighed, knowing she was getting nowhere. "Goodnight, Tony."

"Goodnight, Pep."

…

Pepper woke up early the next morning to take a shower. When she finished, she went back to the bed and crawled over to where Tony lay, still asleep. It being a Sunday, she would have let him sleep in a bit longer, but not today. Only because this particular Sunday was not a regular Sunday. It was the day, which she and Tony would find out something. The gender!

So, she gently, careful of his wounds, shook him. "Tony time to wake up!"

"Dntwnna." Tony grumbled into his pillow, incoherently.

"You have to." Pepper said, still understanding.

"Mmhmf."

"C'mon todays and exciting day!" She tried.

"I know." Tony said clearly as he lifted his head tiredly.

"Then wake up," Pepper said helping him sit up. "Sometimes it hard to know if you ever understand what I'm saying when I wake you up."

He grumbled something, but she didn't understand what it was, but she gave him a quick kiss, and told him to get ready cause they'd be leaving soon. Trusting that he was getting up, she got up and heated up leftover pancakes for them both. She was about half way done eating her breakfast, when Tony stumbled in, looking fresh and actually clean. She could tell he took a shower really quick, which she had forgotten to remind him to take the previous night for the appointment.

"Morning sleepyhead." She said swallowing.

"Morning, Pep." Tony said sitting down eating his coldish breakfast.

At the time, it was about 10:30 o'clock. 30 minutes before the appointment. They finished their food and got ready to go. Pepper had jitter bugs as they walked out the door, with her holding a half empty jar of pickles.

Tony drove them to respective doctor's office, with time to spare. So, they signed in and took a seat while they waited. Pepper was biting her lip when her name was called and she grabbed Tony's hand with an excited smile as they strolled behind the doctor, to the room.

"Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Stark." The doctor, Dr. James, said. "How are you this fine afternoon?"

"Good." They both replied.

"That's good to hear." Dr. James said. "So, Mrs. –er Pepper, how you feeling? Nauseous, sick, in any pain, anything wrong?"

Pepper had requested him, to call her Pepper, because she didn't like the formality of her last name being used. As much as she enjoyed having the Stark name, it was still odd to hear others say it and plus, if she was going to see this doctor at ever visit, she wanted to at least be called by her first name.

"I feel fine." Pepper responded.

"Good, so you can have a seat on the bed and we'll get started. I assume you two are here for the 16 week checkup, meaning you get to find out the gender!"

Pepper smiled and looked at Tony as she laid down on the elevated bed. Her stomach was filled with what seemed to be a million little butterflies and she patted her stomach, humming for a moment.

"Okay, so lift your shirt up for a moment." Dr. James said.

Pepper complied with his request and lifted her shirt up over her belly. She remembered the last visit they had here, and they were allowed, or able to, listen to the heartbeat. Just as she had read. It was so beautiful, it was music to her ears. Though, halfway through the visit, Tony had to go for an iron man thing.

She jumped as a cold liquid gel touched her stomach. She watched, as she held Tony's hand, as the doctor spread the gel out with the hand-held device, she knew was what gave the image of the baby when it's inside the stomach. She kept watching, trying her best not to peek at the screen.

"Would you two like to know the gender?" The doctor asked the married couple.

Biting her lip, she nodded along with Tony.

Her stomach still had the millions of butterflies, but now her heart was fluttering as well, and she could just _feel _the anticipation of what the doctor was about to say. She really didn't know what she wanted, but she felt that it didn't matter. A boy, a girl. It doesn't matter, either way, it's a baby, and it's her own baby.

"Mrs. Stark, Mr. Stark, congratulations! You are going to have a healthy baby_"

* * *

***GASP* A CLIFFHANGER! In this story!? No, kidding!? HAHAHAHA! Sorry, but I had too! I just did! :3**

**Next chapter you guys get to find out what the gender is. I'm _just now _closing the poll, so I think that means that you can see what all _you guys _are thinking. It might not be what everyone voted for, but it might be so even though one side has more votes, doesn't mean i will choose that one, but i might. Oh, and for the boy vote, theres two others that were just commented votes. So add that to the actual thing. If you can see the results that is. **

**Fun fact: _If I have anything sweet (or if i eat spaghetti, apparently) According to my friends, I get all loopy._**

**Fun fact#2: _I fear sleeping with no noise. No noise = No sleep. So, imagine how i feel when my fan burns out (Which it is). I have to sleep to my radios (is that weird?)_**

**I don't know what i plan on working on next, but i do know that i want to try to finish up Haytar's story she requested. :) Well, seeya later! AND remember to REVIEW!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Well, this is pretty quick for an update on this story, but again i thought about focusing on it. Sorta...Not too much though. Just slightly...get it? AND YAY, you get to find out what the gender is! ... hehehe! :)**

**I fixed a few things at the end of the last chapter…really I just deleted two paragraphs, so if you want you can check it out. Otherwise, read on! Oh, and just pretend they hadn't looked at the screen yet…that's the part I omitted. **

**Disclaimer: IMAA is NOT mine, nothing further, you can go on.**

"Mrs. Stark, Mr. Stark, congratulations! You are going to have a healthy baby girl and a healthy baby boy." Dr. James said.

"_AND!?_" Pepper and Tony both asked loudly. Pepper was the one who continued. "You mean there's two?"

"Yep, there's definitely two there." The doctor said. "See for yourself."

The doctor turned the screen so the two could get a clear view of the babies. Yes, there was definitely two. Even as shocked as she was, she was just amazed by how much a simply picture on a screen meant to her. She tried to blink back her tears, but failed and let out a soft sob, but she was smiling. Those were her babies. One or two, she was going to love them. She was going to love them with all her heart. No that was wrong. She _loves _them with all her heart. Already.

Though, when she paused, her shock turning to excitement, she started to worry about how Tony was going to react. She looked to him. He showed the look of complete shock, but she couldn't tell if it was a pleased shock, or…not.

"Tony?" She asked, worried.

He wouldn't leave her for this would he? He wouldn't judge something she clearly couldn't control. Right?

"Tony?" She repeated, when she hadn't gotten any answer.

He shook his head quickly and looked to her. Before she could say anything else, he was smiling. "Pepper! Do you know what this means!?"

Shocked at his reaction, she shook her head. "No, what?"

"We get twice the love, and twice the fun, and twice the trouble." Tony said, smiling.

"Oh no, we're doomed." Pepper said sarcastically, then seriously, "It's just going to be another challenge. Our biggest challenge yet."

Tony nodded. "Yep."

The doctor cleared his throat. "Do you two want a print out?"

"YES!" Was Pepper immediate response.

The doctor left the room after doing a few things that Pepper hadn't noticed since she was already busy chatting and celebrating with Tony. When the doctor returned, Pepper had her first picture of her babies.

…

(A week later – 17 weeks) – November 16th

The doorbell rang and Pepper smiled happily as she walked down the stairs to the door. She opened it, surprised to see that it was everyone.

"HEY!" They all shouted.

Tony joined Pepper at the door and smiled at the guests. 'Guests' being: Howard, Roberta, Rhodey, Mabel, Theo, Virgil, and a few friends of Pepper and Tony's from work.

They all walked in when Tony and Pepper stepped out of their way. Pepper smiled even more before she heard her stomach growl. She sighed, disappointed that she had to be hungry now. So she dragged everyone upstairs where they all sat while she finished cooking the food she was cooking before they arrived. Why everyone was there, was specifically for a gender revealing party. Mabel insisted to throw one, at Pepper's and Tony's house of course, but still, she insisted and it happened. Much to Pepper's joy.

Pepper finished the food and everyone crowded the dinner table for the food as Pepper placed the food in the center of the table.

"So, Pepper, what's the gender?" Morgan, a work friend asked in attempt to get Pepper to spill the beans.

And no, no one, but Tony and herself knew it was twins.

Pepper shook her head, smirking. "Nope, not telling."

"This is a gender revealing party…you know that right?" Mason, another worker friend teased.

"Yeah, I know," Pepper returned back. "We have a fun activity for you guys to find it out."

Pouting, the two gave up on their attempts to get the news early. When they finished eating Mabel helped her clean the table up while Tony gathered the rest of the people in the living room. They finished that task, and Pepper joined Tony and Mabel took Theo from Rhodey and sat down, excited to receive the rules.

Tony was holding sheets of paper that held the rules that Pepper and he wrote down so they didn't forget anything. Pepper slid them from his hands and held them out in front of herself.

"The rules are simple." Pepper said. "It's a scavenger hunt."

There was sounds of approval and cheer, before Pepper continued. "On that table over there is clue one, they go by color, so if you get the green first clue, you will be looking for the green clue number 2 and so on. There's 6 clues total for each color and the 6th clue will lead you to the place where the gender of the baby is hidden."

Mabel raised her hand before speaking. "Does clue one count as one of the 6 clues?"

"Yes." Pepper responded.

Mabel nodded excitedly. She was determined to be first.

"Are the clues the same as someone else's color?" Mason asked.

"No, only the last one is the same." Tony said reading over Pepper's shoulders.

Pepper smiled. "Already then? The first one to find it, wins the place as being first to know!" She looked at everyone and they all nodded. So, she raised her arm. "GO!"

Pepper and Tony watched as Rhodey, Mabel, and the work friends rushed their way to the clues as the eldest adults, or the parents, took their time. Rhodey got the white clues, Mabel got the pink, Mason got the yellow, Morgan got the green, Howard got the blue, Roberta got the orange, and Virgil got the red.

Then they were reading their clues to themselves or aloud, and they were off. Pepper sat on the couch as she watched them play their game. It was funny whenever Rhodey and Mabel argued about Theo slowing them down, so they ended up handing Theo to Pepper and Tony.

Shouts of "I GOT ONE!" Filled the house and pouts that it wasn't their color, then the following shouts of who's color it really was, but never got the answer, so they all swarmed that one spot. Pepper couldn't help but laugh.

By 15 minutes, Mabel had 5 clues, and was desperately looking for the last one, while Rhodey was 1 behind her. Mason and Morgan seemed to be having trouble as they both only had two. Which it wasn't their fault, it was one of their first times there, so they didn't know the place very well. Howard and Roberta tied for 4 clues, as Virgil had 3.

Mabel getting frustrated with her clue, sat down next to Pepper. "Hint?"

Pepper looked at the clue that she got. Then she laughed. "Oh, you got one the hardest one's. Tony helped me with that one. Actually he helped with all the 5th clues. To make it tricky."

Mabel sighed exasperated. "Yeah, but can I get a hint?"

"5 more minutes." Pepper said as she bounced the giggling Theo on her knees.

Mabel sighed and returned to searching. Only for minute later, a shout was heard from across the house. "I GOT THE LAST ONE!"

Then almost instantly all the others groaned in disappointment. Especially Mabel who was downstairs somewhere. "DANG IT, Rhodey!"

"He still needs to finish that clue!" Pepper shouted.

"YAY!" Was Mabel's immediate response.

This continued for almost 10 minutes, and by then Roberta, Howard, and Virgil had all 6 clues, but couldn't figure out the answer to the riddle, they all shared. Though Pepper was strict that they were not allowed to help each other out.

Minutes later, there was a loud crashing sound, then silence as everyone stopped talking, assuming someone got hurt, but all worries were gone, when there was a high pitched scream. Then everyone, including Pepper and Tony went to whoever it was, making all the racket, the others all knowing that someone found it. And were definitely disappointed at the fact.

They made it to the down stairs living room, to where Roberta was standing next to a fallen chair and some books. In her hand was an envelope. She had her hand up to her mouth, shocked.

Pepper laughed and made her way to Roberta, while still holding Theo, before she could say anything, to reveal it. "Great job, Roberta! You want to read it for us?"

Roberta looked honestly shocked. "Really?"

Tony joined them and shrugged. "Why not?"

Roberta, stuck in smiling mode, began to read aloud. "_Tony and Pepper Stark reveal the __**twin's**__ genders…a boy __**and **__a girl!_"

Any sound that was being made, stopped. Instantly. They all stared at Pepper and Tony for a minute, in shock.

"YOU TWO ARE SO EVIL!" Mabel screamed at them, a shocked smile still on her face. "Keeping this away from me! TWINS!?"

They were both squeezed in a humungous hug by Mabel, which was soon joined by Rhodey. Squishing poor Theo between them all. When they escaped the hug, they were only squeezed in more hugs. Lots and lots of hugs. There was TONS of words of congrats, and even some tears. Roberta of course, gave some motherly advice for Pepper to be prepared. Which, Pepper understood completely.

After a while, the news settled in and everyone was sitting at the table waiting for Tony to get the cake. Which they had the frosting dyed pink and blue in dedication to the boy and the girl baby.

"What's it feel like?" Mabel asked curiously to Pepper. "Having two babies in your stomach at once?"

Pepper shrugged. "I don't know how to answer that…I really have nothing to compare this with."

"I remember when I was pregnant…" Mabel said in a distant voice.

"I definitely do." Rhodey said grabbing a plate that was set on the table. "Had to buy TONS of freezy packs."

"Sorry that I was pregnant, it's not like I get cravings or anything." Mabel said sarcasm dripping in her voice.

"I know, just saying." Rhodey said raising his arms in defense.

The cake was set on the table and Tony sat next to his wife who was already grabbing a cut slice. She hummed in delight with her first bite at the yummy taste. Who knew getting a professional to bake the cake would make such a delicious cake?

"I love this cake, Hun!" Virgil said to his daughter. "Where did you get it?"

"Jarvis." Pepper said.

"Jarvis? The AI Tony built?" Virgil asked surprised. "He can bake cakes?"

"No, he gave us direction to the best cake baker in the area." Pepper said in a pleased tone.

"Ah, I see." Virgil said.

Pepper finished her first slice of cake and stole another one. She knew she probably should eat something other than that much cake, but in her defense, she wasn't feeding for one anymore and even so, she's still not only eating for two, but three!

This time, Tony helped Pepper with dishes to rinse them off and plop them in the dishwasher that was ever so useful. Once they finished with that, they joined the rest of the guests as they gathered around Theo who found Pepper's squishy ball that she messed with as a stress reliever and as something to do while reading. He was giggling as he wiggled it around.

"Awww!" Pepper said crouching down next to Theo. "Aren't you the cutest?"

"Auntie!" Theo cheered with a gurgle.

Pepper smiled as the others laughed. Only for moments later to pause when Theo chucked the squishy ball at Pepper's face, the said object rolled away. They broke back into laughter at Pepper's surprised face.

For the rest of the night that the guests were there, they played a few games of Pictionary and a silly game of Charades, which Theo found hilarious. At some point, they demanded that they see Tony's newest phone that was said to supposedly out do Howard's latest phone that included holographic imagery and other fancy stuff, and even that of Tony's Pod.

Tony showed them and they agreed that it was way better than Howards. Much, to Howards dismay, and decided that he was going to make the better phone now that he knew what he was up against. Tony just laughed and didn't worry about it.

When it was late, Mason and Morgan went home and the rest of the family stayed, just a bit longer.

"Congrats again Pepper." Roberta said as she walked out the door. "You too Tony!"

Pepper hugged Roberta before Tony did. "Thanks."

"I'll come by later and don't afraid to ask questions, okay?" Roberta said to them before leaving.

"I'm so proud of you Tony," Howard said, ready to go himself. "And to you too, Pepper, congratulations!"

Once Howard left, Mabel and Rhodey were getting Theo ready to go. Tony sat on the bottom of the stairs as he waited. Pepper was leaned against the wall, her hand on her stomach. She held in her hands an envelope that had a copy of the ultrasound for Mabel and Rhodey to take home, since Mabel was so insistent that she had one. So, they made copies for everyone to take home, if they so wished.

Pepper was suddenly crushed in a hug. "Mabel?"

Mabel sniffled and hugged her tighter, if that was possible. "I'm just so happy! I mean, _twins?_ That must be exciting, right?"

"Of course," Pepper replied.

"I just, really glad that you get to have the joy of having a baby too! We all feared that would never happen," Then in a whisper tone, "saying who your husband is…I'm surprised it even happened!"

"Mabel!" Pepper said, slightly offended.

"No," Mabel said quickly. "Don't take it the wrong way. I love Tony, just…uh you know what? Forget I said anything!"

Confused Pepper watched as Mabel smiled innocently at Tony who had heard everything, but didn't say anything. Mabel picked up the coated Theo as Rhodey finished zipping up.

"Pepper, Tony, congrats!" She said hugging them both with happy smiles. "Be warned, I will be calling and we will go shopping for maternity clothing when you get bigger, and saying that you're having twins, means it will happen all the sooner!"

"Okay Mabel." Pepper said, smiling lightly as the family was halfway out the door. "Goodbye."

"Bye!" Mabel said blowing them a kiss as Theo started to fall asleep in his mother's arms. "Congrats!"

"YEAH Congrats you two!" Rhodey shouted from out the door.

"Thanks!" The two shouted back.

Then they shut the door behind them. Pepper sighed tiredly. Tony walked up to her and pulled her into a hug. She yawned just before Tony kissed her and her arms were just reaching his hair when his phone alarm started to blare.

Tony stepped back with an exasperated sigh. He pulled out his phone and sighed again. "I have to take this one."

"That's fine." Pepper said. "I'll wait."

"No, you are getting some rest. You need it to keep yourself and the babies healthy." Tony said calling his armor to the house. "Love you."

"Love you!" She shouted as he armored up and flew off.

**So, how was it? Satisfied with this chapter at all? I know one of you guessed it! Good job! (the gender)**

**Well, i really don't have much to say, but i had an art crawl and i had to dance in front of the entire school (the entire 8th grade did) and PLUS families. It was so crowded! It was fun!**

**For those of you who haven't noticed yet, I have a new Poll for help with Picking pepperony oneshot ideas...so go check it out and vote TWICE! And soon, once i get enough names, I'll have a poll for that one. So, yay, lots of Polls, but don't forget about the current poll, I'm going to pull it out sometime next week maybe. **

**Fun Fact: _I have lots of scars, but sadly most of them are on my face. My biggest scar ever, is on my cheek, it was from a dog bite that i got when i was little and was stretching a balloon and when it snapped, my was startled, and i guess decided to bite me...:( Two are from cats claws from brother messing around with them, and one being scared. And another, just below my eye (CLOSE) from falling on a nail in the wall after tripping on stairs. _**

**Well, as much as i'd love to stay, i've got things to do. So, with not further ado, BYE!**


	8. Chapter 8

**So, here we are, again! :) yet another chapter update! This chapter was a bit difficult and i hope you will see why. Other than that I really have nothing else to say. **

**Disclaimer: IMAA is not mine.**

Pepper thought about waiting for Tony to come home, since after all it wasn't all that late, but even so, she was tired. Exhausted really, and it was dark after all. So she ended up crawling into bed with a book. She only got to read about 4 pages before she yawned tiredly, unable to focus on the page. So, she closed her eyes for some shut eye.

When Pepper awoke, she was surprised when she found her bed empty. Usually Tony was always there when she woke up. Which she found both odd and worrying. She remembered that he had iron man business to deal with last night, but surly he would be back by the morning, right?

She took a look at the time and realized that it was past 11 o'clock, which meant that she overslept her alarm. It also meant that Tony probably already left off to go to work, but he normally made sure she was with him. Actually it was the other way around normally. She would be making sure he was awake and ready to go. Though since she was pregnant, with twins, she assumed Tony just gave the day off.

So, without any more worry, she got out of bed and took a shower. When she finished she had a great big breakfast of Pancakes, blueberries, orange juice, sausage, and toast. Throughout the rest of the morning she cleaned, stretched for exercise, and ate some more. After lunch, she focused on organizing some things and took a nap.

At the moment she was reading a book while watching some TV waiting for Tony to get home. She wanted to give him a hug and finish that kiss. She didn't care if he had a long day or not, she missed him and she wanted to make sure he was okay from the previous night. She didn't know if it was a fight or a chase or something else, but she still wanted to make sure he was alright.

When he wasn't home when he usually was she passed it off as one of those late nights, and he just forgot to call. She also suspected maybe another Iron man thing, but either way, he was late. So as she waited for whatever time it might be when Tony would come home, she finished her book and went looking for another one, before she decided that she should call him. When the voicemail said that the phone was out of service, she started to really worry.

His phone was dead, broken, or actually out of service. Which she should have expected since she wasn't getting any calls or messages like she usually does. She debated whether or not she should go Stark Solutions to see if he was there or not, but then decided it was better to try to call Rhodey first.

"Hello?" Rhodey asked through the phone.

"Rhodey, do you know where Tony is?" Pepper asked her voice strained a bit.

"No, but shouldn't he be home already?" Rhodey asked.

"No, I didn't even see him this morning." She said, not mentioning that she slept in.

"He told me that you were looking pale this morning so he didn't wake you up. Gave you the day off." Rhodey said. "Has he not come home?"

"I told you," Pepper said a bit relieved that he had been at work. "No."

"That's weird, he was so excited to see you after work, but the last minute he got super busy, I stayed and helped, but Pepper, he left over two hours ago." Rhodey said.

Pepper looked at the clock. 8 o'clock. "Rhodey, I'm worried. What if something happened? He could be hurt! Rhodey what if he's-"

"Pepper don't panic, I'm sure there's a sensible reason for this." Rhodey replied calmly as he heard the hysteria raise in her voice. "He probably hit a lot of traffic. We do live in New York after all. Or knowing Tony he found something interesting and had to go look at it."

"I'm sure that's what that is Rhodey. He found something shiny when his whole lab is shiny." Pepper said sarcastically. "That's definitely why he hasn't arrived home after _two hours_!"

"Pepper, I'm going to go look for him, just don't stress." Rhodey said hanging up.

Pepper frowned and did all that she could to stay calm. She waited for any sign that Rhodey might've found Tony: a phone call, a knock on the door, someone to walk in. Something. As time passed she found it difficult to read, or concentrate. She couldn't focus on any task, and she was starting to panic.

When she was ready to either burst out crying, screaming, or kicking, her phone rang. The phone didn't even ring fully once before she answered it. "Hello!?"

"Pepper, that was quick." Rhodey's voice said over the phone. "Anyways, I uh…found him."

Pepper's eyes widened as she waited.

"You're not going to like it…" Rhodey warned.

"Is he alright!?" Pepper said loudly. "Just spit it out!"

"He was in a…a uh car crash…" Rhodey said slowly.

"WHAT!?" Pepper screeched into the phone. "What happened? Is he hurt? Is he-?"

"Pepper, calm down. It's not healthy for you." Rhodey said. "I'm not sure of the details, but it was something with a drunk driver colliding with Tony."

"Drunk driver?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah, some guy was way over the drink limit, he died instantly. But Tony's alright. He's at the hospital." Rhodey said.

"Okay," Pepper said forcing herself to be calm. "I'll be right there."

…

Pepper met up with Rhodey and the rest of the Rhodes family in the waiting room. Mabel walked up to her quickly and silently, giving her a hug. Mabel lingered there for a moment before backing away, looking worried for her best friend.

Rhodey walked over bouncing, a clearly upset, Theo on his hip. "Pepper, how you feeling?"

Pepper pretended not to notice that they all seemed to be 'sneaking' worried glances at her stomach before responding. "We're fine. How's Tony? What happened?"

"I told you," Rhodey said. "Drunk driver collided with Tony while speeding. And I'm sure Tony's alright. I haven't heard anything yet."

As if on cue, a doctor walked in and looked straight at them, knowing who he was looking for. He walked up to them and greeted them as Dr. Olson.

"Is Tony alright?" Pepper asked, once again.

"Right," The doctor started. "He should be fine. He's got a concussion, a broken arm, only one major cut that we're worried about, and some bruising. He hasn't woken up yet, but you guys are allowed to visit him if you'd like."

…

Pepper and the others went in to see Tony, who was on the hospital bed with a cast on his arm, a gauze wrap around his head, stitches that ran from the side of his wrist and up to his elbow, and a ton of bruises littered his body.

The doctor explained to his best ability to what had happened to the worried family, once Howard had arrived with Roberta.

What had happened, in the doctors words, was explained as so. Tony was driving home, a very drunk driver, driving in the wrong lane, hit Tony almost head on, but a bit to the side. But the air bag didn't come out, until after the collision, because the air bag must have been defective. So, Tony hit his head pretty hard on the steering wheel. Upon impact, his left arm broke and when the window broke, his right arm was cut when it was slid across the broken glass of the window. Other than the bruises, that was pretty much it.

Pepper took a seat immediately as she put a hand over her forehead. She looked to her Tony with worry and concern as her eyes watered up. She was both mad and of course, very upset. But she was more than mad. Especially since this was caused by a simple drunk driver. Of all the enemies out there, that were out to get Tony, a drunk driver had to be the one that put him in the hospital.

Which reminded her, she still didn't know the full story of what happened last night. When the doctor left, she spoke her question. "Rhodey, what happened last night?"

"Last night, what do you mean? We went home and went to bed." Rhodey said confused.

Pepper narrowed her eyes. "Are you guys keeping secrets from me?"

Rhodey shook his head, honestly baffled by Pepper's accusations. "Pepper, I have no idea what you are talking about, of course we're not!"

"Then why was Tony alerted that something needed Iron man's assistance? Didn't you get the alarm to?" Pepper asked. "Right after the party, iron man was call for something. What was it?"

"Pepper, for all I know that attack never happened!" Rhodey said annoyed, but tried not to show it because he knew how stressed Pepper must be. "You know that my phone only alerts me if it's serious or Tony sends it to me if he can't get to it what so ever."

Pepper sighed. "I'm sorry. I assumed you helped because he said it was important."

Rhodey nodded his head and walked away when Mabel called him to help change Theo's diaper. "It's alright Pepper."

Pepper rolled her mobile chair next to Tony and watched his pale face as if he'd wake up just because she was there. The doctor had said that he should wake up within a few hours at least, but he also said since they were positive that there was a concussion, there was also the possibility that he could be asleep for a day or so.

So she grabbed his hand and hoped for the best as she put her other hand atop her stomach.

…

Tony had woken up in the middle of the night, unsure where he was and the doctor was the one who broke the news, since when Pepper tried, she choked up. The doctor ran some tests to test just how serious his concussion since they never got a true test down since he hasn't been awake since the accident. The doctor said that he was very lucky not to have lost any long term memory because of how bad the injury seemed. Though Tony found it difficult to stay awake for more than five minutes. When he woke the next time, the room was empty except for Pepper, but again, he hardly was awake for five minutes before he fell asleep.

The doctors decided it was best to keep him in the hospital for a couple days to nurse him back to full health, and make sure his concussion heals up nicely. Each time Tony woke up, he had no recollection of waking up before or of what happened, and the doctor suspected he might not ever remember, but said there wasn't any permanent damage, thankfully. Pepper was relieved to find that after two days, Tony seemed to start remembering the last times that he woke up. He'd mentioned that he remembered Rhodey being there messing around with Theo, but when he'd woken up it was only Howard in the waiting room. Which was what he told Pepper when she returned from a lunch with Mabel.

After four days since the incident, Tony was basically ready to go. Howard was signing him out and he was up and ready to leave. He happily followed after Pepper who was walking ahead to the car after they said their goodbyes to the family.

"I never asked, how's it been going?" Tony asked once they got in the car. "The babies, I mean, and well of course you."

Pepper laughed. "I know exactly what you mean, and we're perfectly fine. You worried us for a bit, but now I now everything's going to be fine."

"Yeah, once this headache goes away." Tony said rubbing his temples.

"It will if you take your meds like a big boy." Pepper said as they continued to drive in silence.

Just as they were pulling up, Tony looked to Pepper. "Do you think I'm going to be a good father?"

Pepper looked at him startled. "Of course I do, you've been pretty good to me. And with Theo? You're a natural!"

"I wouldn't go that far." Tony mumbled as Pepper parked the car in the driveway. "I'm no natural, I just had a good teacher."

Pepper laughed as she remembered helping his learn to hold Theo better, though in her opinion he knew the basics of it, he didn't seem to be in any danger of hurting a baby. "I guess, but still, I'm sure you'll be a great father."

"You think?" Tony asked.

"I know." Pepper said smiling as she pecked him on the lips before getting out of the car to go inside.

…

(Two days later – November 23) – 18 weeks

Since Tony couldn't deal with anything iron man until his cast came off, he was stuck in the house for the weekend, which enlightened Pepper. She hadn't had a full weekend alone with him for so long. Sometimes she really hated Iron man. Which again, reminded her that she still didn't know what had happened that night before the crash.

"Tony?" She asked when the movie they decided to watch that night ended.

"Hmm?" He asked shifting.

They lay on the couch together, with Pepper in front of him; his arms wrapped around her as best as he could with a cast and stitches, with his hands tracing her stomach.

"What was it that happened the night before the crash? You know, with Iron man." She asked looking up to him.

She could feel his breath on her forehead as he paused and moved his uncasted hand away to rub his eyes. "Well, it's all still a blur to me, but Pepper I'm sure it was nothing. I think it was just a bank robbery."

"You don't sound so sure…" Pepper started.

She opened her mouth to continue, but instead she gasped; her hands flying to her stomach. Her eyes widened and she stared down at her stomach; waiting.

"Pepper?" Tony asked worry evident in his voice. "Are you hurt? Do you need help?"

Pepper smiled brightly and shook her head as she grabbed Tony's good arm and placed it onto her stomach and waited. She watched his face as he waited patiently for what Pepper go excited about. The he felt it.

He looked to Pepper with wide eyes. "They moved!"

Pepper smiled brightly as whichever baby it was seemed to realized that someone was touching her stomach and kicked just where Tony's hand was and she yelped in surprise. When the movement stopped, she just sat there in shock with Tony as they both stared dumbfounded at her stomach that had grown a bit. When she thought they were completely done, she laughed, but gasped as the other one started to kick.

"Tony!" Pepper said moving his hand over and held her hand over his own. "Just wait."

She watched as his face lite up even more if that was possible while she felt her own grow as well. She felt almost as if this was proof. Not that she needed proof, but now she could feel them. She could feel her little babies. Her two precious babies that she knew she loved with all her heart.

**Well, i hope it was good. And I just had to have the car accident, cause both social and health class have been stressing about alcohol and well, this is what happens when the teachers teach us about drunk driving and how bad it is, and i hope that people will one day realize that it's bad to drive while drunk or when their drink limit is. But we all know that will never happen. **

**As you all know, I'm no doctor what-so-ever, so anything i write about the accident and how they treated him, was all just from reading things off the internet or other stories. Which reminds me that I just got this AWESOME book called _Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. _My fave book at the moment. **

**Okay, I forgot to ask last chapter, but I need NAMES people! Boy and girl! I already pretty much have my heart set on a girl name, but don't hesitate to give me a girl name. Boy as well. I WANT THEM BOTH! I'll have a poll of some sort up when i get a good amount of names. :)**

**Fun Fact: I really love those cute little movies like: Castle in the Sky, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo. And the odd/cool anime's like: Fullmetal Alchemist, Kaze No Stigma, and Inuyasha. Things like that AND of course anything MARVEL. **

**Next, I'm going to try to do a second chapter for Iron Trust to get that up and going, and Haunted Shadows. :) So, know what to expect, but don't be surprised to see something else pop up.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey everyone! :D This is short, but I plan to make a fast update, (Much to your guys' luck!) You'll see why at the end, but I hope you guys enjoy it! And i wanted to say that I miscounted on the last chapter and when i said she was 18 months pregnant she was actually 19, but i fixed it here, but really there no difference, but i thought I'd mention that real quick. **

**Disclaimer: IMAA is not mine, so lets leave it at that.**

(December 7th – 21 weeks pregnant)

Pepper wrapped her blanket around herself tightly. It was cold outside and the heater broke. She stopped going to work completely now that she was getting farther along in her pregnancy. So, she had to suffer the cold until Tony was home to fix it. She would have called a mechanic to come do it, but she didn't like the idea of a stranger in their house. She was like that. She wouldn't mind calling someone if Tony was with her, but right now she was alone and that was all that mattered.

She was watching some TV while munching on pickles. When she finished the pickles she put them on the table beside her and changed the channel on the TV. She rested her hand on her swollen stomach. It was amazing at just how big she had grown in 4 weeks. She always knew she would get big, saying that she was having twins, but nevertheless, she was still surprised.

She felt her babies move and smiled. Well, she was smiling until one of them decided to stretch. She winced slightly and out of instinct, tried to stretch out herself. After a moment she pushed lightly on her stomach, and which ever baby it was, stopped.

"Geez, that's the second time you've done that." She said, even though she knew it could have just been the other one this time.

"Talking to them?" A voice said.

She jumped and looked over to where the voice was coming from.

It was dark in her house, because she had the curtains down and lights off, but she could faintly see the silhouette a woman. "Who-?"

"You should know who I am, Potts." The voice said, sounding awfully familiar to Pepper.

_Potts? Who still calls me that? _Pepper thought, but then aloud: "Who are you?"

The voice sighed and walked to the switch and flipped it. By then, Pepper had already sat up, her hand resting on her stomach protectively. She gasped when she realized who it was.

Whitney Stane.

How did she get in there? How did she not notice her? How could she not? How long was she there? All those questions ran through Pepper's head and more.

Whitney laughed. "You should have known, after all, we were 'friends' in high school."

Pepper glared at her. "What do you want, Stane?"

Whitney's eyes shifted to Pepper's stomach with hatred. "You sicken me."

"Me? How do _I _sicken _you_?" Pepper asked, moving to stand up.

"You stole Tony from me!" Whitney half shouted, before she looked as if she was calming herself. "Tony was mine, until you came along."

"I didn't steal him, he chose me." Pepper said. "He's smart enough to know who's best for him, you should be happy for him."

Whitney growled. "_Happy?_ I should be _happy _for him?! After what he did to me? Please, you make me laugh."

Pepper glared at the blond. "He didn't do what he did one purpose."

"How does someone 'accidentally' put someone in a coma?" Whitney asked, stalking closer to Pepper. "How does someone 'accidentally' break someone's heart?"

"Your dad was attacking him, he didn't mean to, he would have hurt someone. And you have to remember that you were the one that broke up with him." Pepper said stepping away.

Whitney pushed Pepper back onto the couch, Pepper clutched at her stomach, praying that Whitney would stay away from it.

"He was supposed to love me! He was supposed to marry me!" Whitney screeched.

"Jarvis!" Pepper shouted quickly. "Contact Tony!"

Whitney was having none of that and slapped Pepper.

"Yes Ma'am." The British voice said.

"And now," Whitney started, towering over Pepper, "he's gone and done this to you!" Whiney shouted gesturing madly to Pepper's stomach.

"What, are you jealous?" Pepper questioned without thinking.

Whitney's face contorted in anger. "I loved him! I was only hurt, because he wasn't paying attention to me, because he was too busy focusing on _you_! So I left him, hoping he'd come crawling back to beg me to take him back. But no! He takes it like I just freed him to go to you."

"I can't stop what he feels for me, I can't control his heart."

"If you haven't already!" Whitney said. "If you hadn't come along, he would still love me!"

Before Pepper could reply, Whitney had her hands gripped around Pepper's wrist. Pepper tugged against her, but Whitney's grasp was like steel. Whitney pulled Pepper up and twisted Pepper's arms behind her back. Pepper winced as her arm twisted a bit too far.

"Whitney, let me go!" She demanded.

Whitney didn't respond, she only started to pushed Pepper down the stairs the lead to the front door, Pepper didn't fight it until they got to the bottom of the stairs so she didn't fall down them. She couldn't let Whitney take her. She had to protect her babies no matter what.

Though the instant they got to the bottom of the stair, Whitney shoved Pepper towards the door, while at the same time she opened the door.

The last thing Pepper saw, was Whitney opening the door the rest of the way.

…

The instant Tony saw the caller ID, he was rushing out the door of his work, telling his assistant to cancel his afternoon meetings. He answered it and demanded to know what was wrong. Jarvis never called him. He had the ability to phone call him, but he only called when there was an emergency.

Jarvis started to tell him what happened, but the instant he'd said Whitney, Tony couldn't hear Jarvis anymore. He was already armored up and flying towards the house.

His teeth were clenched the entire flight there. His whole body was tense.

The only thing on his mind was Pepper and the babies. If anything happened to them…if Whitney even as much as laid a finger on Pepper to hurt her, he was going to make sure she paid. She wouldn't get away with it. If Pepper was hurt in anyway, he wouldn't know what to do. He would do whatever it took to make sure she was okay.

With his mind set, he sped up.

…

Tony arrived to the house to see Whitney dragging Pepper across the lawn to a truck. He growled to himself and landed between them and the truck.

"Whitney!" He snapped. "Let. Her. Go."

Whitney let go of Pepper, who landed on the cold ground that was covered in snow. Luckily, Whitney was dragging and not carrying Pepper.

Whitney turned around and cursed under her breath. "You weren't supposed to come."

Tony glared behind his mask. "You're not supposed to touch my wife."

A look of hurt flashed across Whitney's face before she laughed. "I think it's too late for that."

Tony eyed Pepper and saw the blood on her forehead. He gasped, "Pepper!"

Whitney strolled over to Pepper, pulling out a knife as if it was the most normal thing. Tony glared knives at Whitney. "DON'T. TOUCH. HER." He growled out loudly.

"Worried?" Whitney teased.

Tony heard Pepper groan, but she didn't wake up. "Leave her alone."

He stepped forward his repulsors ready to fire. Whitney held up one hand and raised her hand that held the knife over Pepper's stomach. "Don't move or they die."

Tony felt his blood run cold. He stopped, dead in his tracks. She wouldn't. She wouldn't even dare. Could she? She wouldn't hurt them, would she? He could hardly watch as the knife loomed dangerously close to Pepper's stomach.

Whitney laughed. "I knew you wouldn't do it."

"Whitney, why?" Tony asked, his voice softer than he meant it to be.

"You were supposed to love me! You were meant to be with me, not this…this…" Whitney seemed at a loss of a name. "Not her! ME! You were supposed to love ME! Not her!"

Her face looked insanely wild, and she almost looked as if she was about to cry, but then she laughed. "You chose her over me, now this is my revenge!"

Tony, too frozen to move, as the knife raced towards Pepper's stomach.

Tony screamed. "PEPPER!"

**HA, i bet that's one of the worst cliffhanger's i've left yet! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, but as I said, I'm working on the next chapter already and it should be up by tomorrow if not, this weekend. **

**Okay, guys, LOVE the names, keep them coming though! I'd like some more names, even if you gave me some already, i need more! Please and Thank you!**

**Fun Fact: _I can't fall asleep unless i have some kind of noise going on. Like a fan or a radio or a TV..._**

**So, I'm going to go, work on the next chapter for this, then Snow Storm. So yeah, Love you guys, REVIEW and just hold on, I'm working as fast as i can! **


	10. Chapter 10

**As promised, it was a FAST update! One of my fastest! :D Hope you like it! **

**Disclaimer: IMAA is not mine, alright, we've been through this.**

It happened so fast, Tony could hardly register what had happened. There was a flash of light and Whitney had gone flying. He looked around and when he looked up he saw Rhodey or War Machine flying in the air just to the right of him.

"Rhodey!" he said relived, but he didn't wait to question why Rhodey was here as well.

He ran to Pepper and looked at her. She was still bleeding from a wound on her head. He kneeled down next to her.

"Tony, take her inside I'll take care of Whitney!" Rhodey shouted from above as Tony noticed Whitney get up. She hadn't been hit, but instead she dodged it, but a little sloppily so she landed on her back.

Tony picked Pepper up and rushed inside. He laid her down on the bed and went to get some rags to wash of the blood from her forehead. He grabbed some bandages as well and got to work. He worked fast so he could go help Rhodey.

But just as he was about to leave Pepper's opened her eyes. "Tony?"

He kneeled down at the side of the bed by her head. "You're awake."

Her eyes widened. "Whitney!?"

"Outside, Rhodey's fighting her I think." Tony said. "I should…"

"Go." She said.

"But she almost…" His voice trailed off.

"She almost what?" Pepper asked.

Before he could respond, she threw the blankets off of her and felt her stomach with panic. "She didn't do anything to them did she?"

"No, but…she almost did." Tony said frowning.

Pepper growled quietly. "Go, defeat her and show her no mercy. She needs to face justice."

If she didn't sound so serious, Tony might have laughed, but he agreed. Whitney got personal. He went after Pepper and the babies. She wasn't going to get away with that. Not while he was standing. He ran outside, and armored back up.

She was in her madam Masque outfit and was firing laser guns at Rhodey, who was firing repulsors at Whitney.

"Whitney!" He shouted as he fired his own repulsors.

She dodged the first few, but got him with one, sending her flying into the truck he'd seen her dragging Pepper to. She got back up with a wince. She threw something at him, but he picked it up and threw it in the air as it exploded. He ran up to her and she just barely escaped getting punched in the face. She kicked at him, pushing him back. Rhodey fired a repulsor and she dodged it.

As she was focusing on Rhodey, Tony grabbed her leg and threw her into the ground. "No one messing with my Pepper."

She groaned as she forced herself up. She didn't bother to respond, she only growled and fired strong laser beams at Tony, which hit him dead on, sending him into the street. For a moment he didn't get up.

"Tony!" Rhodey shouted, as he shot at Whitney with determination, actually hitting her a few times.

Whitney shot the same thing at Rhodey, but he moved at the last minute. She glared at him and was about to fire again, but there was a hand around her neck. Surprised, she couldn't fend off her attacker as she was shoved to the ground, the hand still choking her. She raised her hand to fire at him, but he put his knee on her hand, and with his other hand, he took her gun and threw it somewhere.

"T-T-Tony-!" She stuttered and coughed. "Y-you wouldn't."

He glared at her through the mask. Not letting go. His grip actually tightened. She coughed and spat. Her face was red and her eyes closed from the strain.

"Tony," Rhodey tried, but his voice fell on deaf ears.

"Why'd you hurt Pepper!?" He snarled out. "What could you possibly gain?"

Whitney coughed, her face now turning purple. "Y-y-y-you we-were s-s-supposed-!" She broke off as she made choking sounds and spat in his armored face. "To l-love me!"

"Tony!" Rhodey said, hopefully getting to Tony this time. "Tony stop! You won!"

"I couldn't love you." Tony started. "You were too mean to Pepper, not to mention you had a criminal record."

Whitney couldn't respond, her face almost completely purple, as she coughed, spluttered, and spat, as she tried to breath.

"Tony! Let her go! You got her!" Rhodey shouted starting to go to Tony. "I'll take her back to Shield, just let her go."

Almost reluctantly, Tony finally let go. He didn't move beyond that, and Rhodey worriedly glanced at him as he pulled the coughing and hacking blond to her feet. He didn't like the look of the already forming black and blue bruises on her neck.

"Come on, Whitney," Rhodey said, venom running in his voice. "You've gone in over your head this time."

She was breathing in heavily and was grasping with one hand at her neck. With a word to Tony that he was going to come back, he flew off.

…

Tony sat there, on his knees, unmoving. Rhodey's panicked voice repeating in his head. Had he really almost strangled Whitney to death? Had he really been willing to take her life? What was wrong with him?

He couldn't bring himself to move other than to breathe, which he was really not grateful that he could do. For a while there, he had taken away Whitney's ability to breathe. So why did he get to breathe so freely?

As horrible as Whitney was, she wasn't bad enough to deserve death, at least by his hands. He wasn't a killer. He wouldn't have done it, right?

It was hard to think that if Rhodey hadn't been there, he would have snapped her neck before she even suffocated. Or he would have carried through and killed her. What would Rhodey think of him? And what would _Pepper _think of him? It terrified him to even think about what she might think of him when she finds out.

He stayed there, not changing position for who knows how long. Though this is the same position Rhodey found him in when he returned after he armored down.

"Tony," He started. Tony looked away. "It wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was." He responded

"No, it wasn't." Rhodey retorted. "She got too personal, she went and Pepper and the babies, it's was a normal person would do."

"Well, I'm not a normal person." Tony said.

"You're being too hard on yourself. She's fine, she's with Shield again, and she's alive." Rhodey said, pulling Tony to his feet. "Now let's go see how Pepper is, I'm sure she's worried."

"Yeah." Tony said.

Tony armored down and followed Rhodey into the house. They went to Pepper's room to find she had fallen asleep.

Tony looked at her like a kicked puppy. Rhodey couldn't imagine what was going through his head, so he placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort. "It's alright. Go to her, I'll leave."

Tony nodded his thanks. But even when Rhodey left, he hadn't moved any closer to Pepper. He just stood there in the doorway as he watched the steady rise and fall of her chest as she slept. He didn't know how long he sat there, but he definitely noticed when she opened her eyes.

He stiffened as she focused on him. "Tony? What are you doing way over there?" Was the first thing out of her mouth.

"Pep." Was all that he could get out of his mouth.

She moved to get up, but he was quick to get to her side and gently push her back down. "Don't." he said.

"Whitney?" She asked, her hand still laying protectively over her stomach.

He looked down. "Gone, she's with Shield again."

"Good." She smiled and tried to pull him in for a kiss, but he looked away and she just barely kissed his cheek. She looked at him with curious and worried eyes.

"I almost killed her." He blurted.

Her eyes widened in surprise and Tony looked away. That was exactly the look he feared. What if she was scared that he was able to kill, that he could get so close to killing someone?

"What happened?" She asked.

He looked at her with slight surprise before he answered in a low voice. "She was distracted and was about to hit Rhodey, but I…grabbed her throat and pressed her against the ground….Choking her…"

Pepper didn't respond. When it was silent for a while, Tony stood up a pained look in his eyes and Pepper feared that it was from being injured since after all he did just get his cast removed from his arm and his other injuries were just healing up.

"I'm sorry." He said.

She grabbed his hand when he started to walk away. "Don't leave."

He looked down at her, and bit his lip. "Pep, I would have done it too if Rhodey wasn't there." Then he paused. "Why was Rhodey there?"

A voice spoke up that startled both Pepper and Tony. "I contacted Mr. Rhodes when Mrs. Stark loss consciousness. I found it better than contacting you twice."

"Thanks," Tony said.

Then it was quiet except for their breathing.

"Tony," Pepper finally said. "It's alright. I'm sure you would have let go."

She squeezed his hand. "Please, just come lay down with me."

It was the middle of the day, but at the moment, Tony didn't care and neither did Pepper. He crawled into bed with Pepper and she scooted closer to him. When he didn't come and put his arms around her like he usually does, she grabbed his hand and did it for him. When he tried to pull away she gave him a look and held his arm around her.

"Stay." She said.

He looked at her. "You're not…mad?"

"Why would I be mad? You just saved us!" She asked surprised. Was that what he was worried about?

"I almost killed a person, enemy or not, I could have done it." Tony said.

She raised an eyebrow. "Whether or not you did it, I still love you. I don't care what happened between you and Whitney out there, I'm just glad that you're still alive."

"Really?"

"Of course."

She moved closer and closed the distance between them with a kiss. At first Tony didn't kiss her back, but soon enough, he began to kiss her back. He rolled over so Pepper was half under him and pressed a hand behind her neck and the other on her swollen stomach. Pepper giggled against his mouth when she felt one of the baby's kick against his hand. Both of her hands were clasped tightly in Tony's hair, which she figured probably hurt a bit, but he didn't seem to mind.

They kissed for a while until there was a knock at the front door.

Tony groaned as he got off the bed. "I'll go see who it is."

"Me too." Pepper said as she tried to get up, ignoring her headache.

"No, Pep." Tony said waving a finger at her. "You're still hurt."

She pouted. "Not too much."

"You might have a concussion." Tony pointed out.

"I'm sure it's fine."

The knocking started up again and Tony shot Pepper a warning look as he walked out to get the door.

…

"HEY!" Mabel's voice shouted.

Pepper perked up. _Mabel? _She looked outside the open door and just waited for Mabel to burst into the room, not even bothering that it might break the door, open or not.

She heard Tony's voice protest something, but Mabel's voice cut him off. "No, I am seeing Pepper, and you will not tell me otherwise!"

She laughed. Mabel will be Mabel.

"PEPPER!" Mabel shouted just before she stormed into the room. "How could you get hurt before your baby shower?"

"I thought you were kidding about the baby shower." Pepper defended.

"Why would I kid about something like that?" Mabel asked, looking honestly appalled by the idea. "It may be late, but I'm still throwing you one. I've already got a date set and I've invited all of our parents and some friends."

"I don't want a baby shower!" Pepper complained.

"Yes you do." Mabel said, giggling. "Of course you do!"

"I don't have to have one and you know it."

"You're having one whether you want one or not. And that's final."

Tony walked into the room with Theo in his arms and Rhodey behind him. Pepper smiled at him and he smiled back, but then frowned as Theo screamed in his ear loudly.

"What is it Theo?"

"Theodore Rhodes," Mabel scolded as she turned around. "What did mommy say about screaming?"

Theo frowned. Then giggled as he sucked his thumb. Mabel laughed and shook her head as she went as sat next to Pepper on the bed. Without warning, Mabel tugged what blankets were still on Pepper off, and pulled her shirt up. Pepper was startled, but didn't bother to move her shirt back down.

Mabel squealed. "You're so big!"

"Yeah, don't remind me." Pepper mumbled.

"Oh please, if you're going to tell me you look fat, don't." Mabel said. "Because you're not fat, you're pregnant and beautiful. Right Tony?"

Tony paused, not expecting to be called out on this. "Right."

"See?"

"He's my husband, he's required to say that." Pepper said.

"No, I mean and you know it." Tony defended. "I love you and the babies and don't you tell me I think otherwise."

Pepper's eyes widened at his exclamation. "T-thanks Tony. I love you too."

"Ugh, get a room, you lovebirds." Rhodey said.

"Um," Pepper started. "You're in our room."

Rhodey looked stunned for a minute because he wasn't expecting that response. "I was kidding."

"You better have been, because we weren't even kissing." Pepper said.

Mabel who wasn't even paying attention to the others conversation, started to actually _pet _Pepper's stomach. Pepper tried to protest, but Mabel just had to give her a look and Pepper knew to not say anything. Then Mabel started to talk to the babies.

"You guys know you have a beautiful mother right?" Mabel asked in a singsong voice. "And a hard working father too."

Pepper felt them kick in response. She smiled.

So did Mabel. "You'll have the best parents," Mabel smiled getting closer to Pepper's stomach. "They'll protect you with their lives. And do whatever it takes to keep you safe."

"I hope so." Tony said, more to himself than anyone else.

Rhodey looked at him curiously, but didn't say anything. Mainly because Theo started to Pull Tony's hair. "Ow!"

"Theodore, let go of Uncle Tony's hair." Rhodey coming to pry Theo's tiny hands out of Tony's hair.

Theo let go.

"Thanks." Tony said, handing Theo over to Rhodey.

Rhodey nodded and turned to his wife. "We should leave the two alone. I'm thinking we should bring little Theo out for a walk."

Mabel smiled, her hand still on Pepper's protruding stomach. "Yay!"

Mabel murmured words of goodbye to both Pepper and her stomach and hopped of the bed. The happy family walked out after saying goodbye.

Tony sighed, and looked to Pepper who he thought looked as beautiful as ever. "You hungry?"

"What do you think?"

Tony looked to Pepper's stomach and laughed. "What do you want?"

"Two sandwiches." Pepper said.

"The usual?" Tony asked halfway in and halfway out of the room.

"Yep."

**Well, cute ending! Huh? I'm surprised at how long this chapter was considering that I just started _both _of these chapters today...heheh I love you guys too much! ;) I think i spoil you sometimes. SOMETIMES.**

**Fun Fact: _I'm terrible with being creative when it comes to arts and crafts. It's kinda sad when I love art so much..._**

**Hope you guys enjoyed this REALLY FAST update! I wasn't expecting to finish this chapter til at least tomorrow, but no, it's today! So, yay! Well, don't be expecting another chapter today, but soon hopefully. :)**

**REVIEW!**


	11. Chapter 11

**I am SO SORRY for the long wait! I honestly hadn't thought it had been this long! T.T I really should have updated this sooner...sorry.**

**Disclaimer: IMAA is NOT mine. Hmm, have I said that before...I wonder?**

(January 18th – 27 Months pregnant)

"My back hurts!" Pepper complained as she sat down to eat with her husband.

Tony smiled softly at her. "Would you like some pain meds?"

She nodded her head lightly at her husband, thankfully. Tony set his spoon down and walked out of the dining room to get her pain meds. She thoughtfully rubbed her stomach, as she waited. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to have met Tony. She wondered what she would have done if she hadn't met him. She'd definitely not have had such wonderful adventures. Her life would have been boring.

"Happy now are we?"

She looked over at Tony who was setting down a glass of water and a pill. She smiled. "Of course, why wouldn't I? I have the perfect husband, who's going to be a great dad, that I love so much!"

He gave her a quick kiss and nudged the pill closer to her. "Take it,"

She laughed lightly and took it. They finished their meal and Pepper went to clean the dishes. Tony peeked his head into the kitchen, "I'm going to work on the nursery room for the babies, alright?"

She looked over her shoulder. "Sounds good!"

* * *

Tony worked hard on the nursery room while Pepper was off doing something else. He was pretty sure she said she was taking a nap, but he wasn't sure. He debated on the colors since they were going to have the babies share the room, since Pepper said it would be easier. Before he even said anything, Pepper told him he wasn't making the room iron man themed. So red and gold weren't an option.

So after a little bit of thought, he decided the colors. He asked Pepper if she wanted to help with designing stuff, but when he asked, she just laughed and told him to surprise her. So, he was doing things based on what he already knows and what he read in the books and magazines Pepper gave him.

In the middle of painting the room, his phone rang, he was going to ignore it, knowing it wasn't an iron man thing, but when later, it rang again, he figured it was important enough to stop his painting.

"Hello?" He answered, trying to keep paint off his phone.

"Tony? That's you right?" A females voice said, panicked through the phone. "I mean, Mr. Stark! Is that you?"

He blinked, he was sure that the caller ID said Rhodey. "Um, yeah, but can I ask who this is?"

"Oh yeah, sorry!" The girl said. "I'm Izzy Holland, I was babysitting for the Rhodes' and Mr. Rhodes forgot his phone! Then Theo started throwing up and wouldn't stop screaming. And Mrs. Rhodes won't answer her phone!

"Then I remembered Mr. Rhodes gave me your number for emergencies and I lost the number, but found you on his phone!"

"Whoa, calm down!" Tony urged. "I'm sure everything's alright. Just let me see if my wife is awake."

Tony dropped the paintbrush into the paint bucket and walked out of the room in search for his wife. He went straight for their bedroom and found she was asleep and frowned. Should her wake her up?

He went to shut the door, choosing it was best to leave her alone, but he must have made too much noise looking for her, because she was looking right at him. "Tony?"

"Oh hey Pep, just go back to sleep, I didn't mean to wake you." He said stepping out to avoid being hit in the face by her alarm clock. "Sorry!"

"Let me sleep!" She half shouted in her sleepy state.

Tony hurried away, remembering the last time he woke her up from a nap lately. She was _not _happy. He rubbed his forehead from the sore memory and shivered. The pregnant hormones sure were scary.

He put the phone back up to his ear. "Okay, yeah I'll come over."

There was a pause on the other end. "Pregnant?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, but please hurry, Theo's still throwing up." With that the girl, Lizzy hung up.

Tony sighed. But on the bright side, this was more practice for when Pepper had their babies and they got sick.

* * *

Tony pulled the car into the driveway of his best friend's house. The sun was setting a bit as he opened the door. Inside, he instantly heard Theo screaming and the panicked voice of the girl, Lizzy trying to calm him down.

He rushed up the stairs to where the noise was coming from. The instant Lizzy realized he was here, Theo was practically shoved into his arms. Tony made a face as he realized the baby smelt only of vomit.

"Did you give him a bath?" He asked.

The brunette shook her head. Her eyes staring. "Well, um, no sir, but I tried to, but he just threw up again."

He sighed. "Well, I'm going to go try to give him a bath, but where is Rhodey anyways?"

"Oh, Mr. Rhodes? He's helping one of his relatives fix there roof after the storms last week."

"And Mabel?" Tony asked on his way to the bath as Theo seemed interested in pulling his ear.

"Doctors appointment."

"Sick?"

"I don't know."

Tony arrived to the bath and started running the bath water. He'd done this once before, but that was a long time ago, before Theo learned to walk and sit up on his own, so he had a special device to hold his head above water. So he was a bit cautious about this.

Theo squirmed in his arms as Tony removed the toddler's clothes. Lizzy stood at the door way a bit awkwardly as Tony sat a naked Theo in the bath.

"So, um, Mr. Stark, is it a boy or girl?"

Tony looked over to the girl. He looked at her for a moment. She had dark brown hair, and grey eyes. She wore a brown turtle neck and skinny jeans. "Both."

Her grey eyes widened. "Twins? Wow, that's cool?"

"Yeah." Tony said jumping when Theo splashed him.

"You two are good at avoiding the press." Lizzy commented.

"Yeah, I'm a bit protective over our privacy." Tony said, then narrowed his eyes. "You better not tell them."

Lizzy held up her arms. "I won't."

Tony finished up the bath with Theo and rocked him for a minute to see if he would throw up again. When he didn't he gave him a bottle of water. Only to have him throw it up on him ten minutes later. He gave Theo to Lizzy and went and stole a shirt from Rhodey the instant Theo did it again.

By the time Theo finally stopped throwing up, and when Tony was ready to give him a second bath, Mabel returned home, happily humming to herself, until she noticed Tony wiping something off of Theo's shirt with a rag.

"Spill something?" She asked as she walked over to him. Lizzy was getting a fresh washcloth to clean Theo with.

"No, I think he's sick." Tony said. "He's been throwing up."

Mabel instantly looked worried. "Oh no, his first flu!"

"First?" Tony asked remembering all the other times Theo seemed to throw up on him.

"Tony, those other times were because he just nursed. And you took him before anyone could burp him." Mabel said laughing. He scratched the back of his neck, nervously.

"Are you wearing Rhodey's shirt?" She asked.

"Yeah, little man here ruin mine for the time being."

"So," Mabel asked as she went to go get Theo some water. "Why are you here, isn't Lizzy watching Theo?"

Lizzy, who walked in with the washcloth smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, Rhodey left his phone here and you weren't answering, so I called Mr. Stark."

"I don't want to sound rude, but please stop calling me Mr. Stark." Tony said.

Lizzy went red in the face. "Sorry, sir!"

"Or sir."

"Um…Mister?"

"Just Tony."

Lizzy nodded handing him the wet washcloth. He wiped Theo up a bit more until Mabel came and happily took her son into her arms. She smiled at Tony. "You can go home now, I'm sure Pepper would like that."

Tony nodded. "Okay,"

"Plus, I'm sure with all that paint on your shirt, you were busy with something." Mabel said patting his shoulder as she led him to the door.

He raised an eyebrow and left, heading for home.

* * *

"We need to start thinking of names." Pepper said after Tony finished painting.

Tony put away the paint buckets and went to wash his paint covered hands. He nodded in agreement. "We can as soon as I clean up."

"Okay, you go do that." Pepper said stealing a kiss before he left to take his shower.

When he got out, Pepper was laying down on the couch her hands on her pregnant stomach. She was humming something or the other as she traced patterns onto her stomach. He smiled at how peaceful she looked at that moment. That look of love in her eyes as she looked at her stomach.

"Hey Pep." He said softly as lifted her head so he could sit down.

Pepper rested her head in his lap and stared at him, happily. "Aren't you excited?"

"Very." Tony said, smiling. He put on of his hands on her stomach and rubbed circles with his thumb. He smiled brightly when they kicked in reaction to his touch.

"They already love you." Pepper said.

"And I already love them."

Pepper placed her hand over his as she smiled up at him, excitedly. "Alright, now for names."

"Have you thought of any?"

Pepper nodded. "For the girl, I've been debating either Serenity or Charlotte Rose."

Tony bit his lip. "Those are pretty names, it's a tough choice, have you chosen?"

She shook her head. "I was hoping you would choose."

"Me?"

"You are her father after all."

"Then, I like Serenity best." Tony said, repeating the name in his head. _Serenity Stark. _

Then Pepper eyes widened in excitement. "Ooh, and we can have her middle name be Rose!"

"Serenity Rose Stark." Tony whispered to test the name out. Then louder, "Serenity Rose Stark, I love it!"

Pepper laughed and patted her stomach. "I can't wait to meet you Serenity Rose Stark."

"Should we pick a name for our little boy now?" Tony questioned as Pepper gazed lovingly at her stomach.

Pepper yawned, "Nah, I don't have the slightest idea yet."

"Okay, let's think about it." Tony said.

Pepper sat up and kissed her husband. "Now," She stared with a smile. "I want to see that nursery done by the week, and make sure it's good."

Tony chuckled and kissed his wife full on the lips again. "On it."

**To be honest, I don't really like this chapter except for the last part, but hey, its not what i think. It what YOU think! So, how was it? Was it worth the wait? **

**I'm moving this along quickly, sorry if it seems I'm leaving out a ton of stuff, I'm trying my best here! **

**Okay, so now that we've figured out a girl name, we need to pick a boy name. Which, I have a POLL up on my profile, so PLEASE go vote, so I can get the next chapter up! That's part of the reason it took so long for this chapter, no one really voted for the girl's name that fast. PLEASE, just take two seconds to pick a name, I have four names to choose from, thanks!**

**Fun Fact: _I'm terrified stiff of shots, even just watching someone get a shot, I can't look. It gives me the shivers just _thinking _about it...Blech...jadsofnaodhf'o_**

**Well, I have other stories to work on so, bye!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey my fabulous readers! I'm back to writing my normal stories! (At least for now) And I've decided it be fun to start with this one! :D Oh and Shout out/Thanks to _JesusFreak93_ who helped my pick a middle name! ;D THANKS! **

**Okay, I'm going to do some shout outs, because well, I feel I should do them more often, they can be kinda fun! These are from last chapter!**

**JesusFreak93: _Thanks, glad you thought it was cute! ^.^_**

**Guest: Don't worry, _I don't think you're being rude! I wanted to write it as soon as possible! And thanks! :) I want to see them born as well, but sadly, even I have to be patient -.-_**

**PercyJacksonLover14: __****Ye**p, poor poor Theo...And thanks, I tried to make Tony seem like he at least knew something, but still, and it's Serenity ROSE Stark, :D Not Ross. XD But THANKS, I loved that name to pieces and was glad it won the Poll!

**Disclaimer: I don't want to say it! ... -.- FINE! IMAA is not mine! Happy?**

(February 22nd – _32 months pregnant_)

Pepper groaned as she lay on the bed she shared with her husband. She'd been practically bedridden for days now. Her feet ached so much, she could hardly walk, and she didn't want to think about her back. Oh no. Her back was far worse than her feet. But lucky for her she had Tony. Who would come home and sit on the edge of the bed, just so he could massage her aching feet. Then he'd help her 'air walk' so her knees and ankles didn't cramp up. He'd be so sweet about it too. He'd just help her bend her knees and ankles, but careful not to bend them the wrong way.

Apparently, if a pregnant woman stretches her toes to a point, she'd get a major Charlie horse and be unable to walk for days. Not that she could walk in the first place.

Though, she did have the times where she practically forced herself to her feet so she could get to the kitchen and of course the bathroom. Tony already had it set so that on her 34th month, he would be on leave from work. He would be home with her until the birth of the babies and a couple weeks afterwards.

So, she really didn't worry about being lonely or anything. Plus, Mabel made sure to come over almost every day. Just to make sure Pepper was never lonely and even brought Theo with her sometimes. Theo had even gotten better from his first flu. Pepper laughed when she heard that story.

Pepper patted her stomach. Her very swollen stomach. Where Serenity Rose Stark and the decided, Leo Alexander Stark, were. Her two babies. Serenity and Leo. Tony and her came up with the name only a few days ago, and the name sorta stuck with them. So, together they agreed on Leo Alexander Stark. Their son would be Leo Alexander Stark and their daughter was going to be Serenity Rose Stark.

She looked over as she heard the front door open and close. Then the jingle of keys. So that meant Tony was home. Oh joy, now he could help her 'air walk' again.

Except she heard more voices this time. She recognized them as Rhodey and Mabel. So they decided to visit today, huh?

"Pepper, you here?" Tony's voice called.

_Of course I am. _Pepper wanted to say, but instead, "Yep, I'm in the room."

He peeked his head into the room a smile on his face. "Rhodey and Mabel decided to stop in."

"Okay," Pepper replied, holding her hand out. "Help me up?"

Tony nodded and walked in the room, "No air walks today?"

"Nah, was can do that in the living room." Pepper said before she grunted as he pulled her up.

"Okay, whatever you say." Tony said an arm around her waist, partially.

They walked out into the living room where Mabel and Rhodey were playing 'bumpy road' with Theo. Pepper smiled as she saw them and laid herself down on the couch, for comfort and the 'air walk'.

Tony sat on the end and helped her do the air walk. Rhodey and Mabel gave them weird looks, since it technically was the first time they've seen them do the air walk.

"What is this again?" Mabel asked.

"I like to call it 'air walks' since I can't really walk all that much." Pepper replied as Tony bent her leg at the knees and held it. "It helped the soreness in my legs since I'm in bed most of the time."

"Oh, so this is the famous air walk that I've heard so much about." Rhodey said.

"I don't remember being bedridden." Mabel said. "Then again, I wasn't pregnant with twins!"

Pepper smiled. "So, why did you guys decide to visit?"

"What? We can't visit for fun?" Mabel asked.

"No, no, you can." Pepper replied.

"Nah, its fine."

Mabel smiled and looked to Rhodey. "Okay, now the real reason we are here."

Pepper and Tony both gave them a confused look. "What?"

"We've come to announce that we've decided to promote Theo to "Big Brother"."

Pepper's eyes widened while Tony just stared.

"…Wait, can you repeat that?" Pepper questioned.

"Theo has been promoted to Big Brother." Mabel said.

"You're pregnant?"

"I'm pregnant!" Mabel squealed.

"Wow, I was not expecting that." Tony said.

Then they were quiet as they absorbed the news. They were having another baby. Their best friends were having their second baby. Theo was going to be a big brother.

Pepper smiled broadly. "CONGRADULATIONS! Wow, you guys I'm just so happy for you two!"

"Congrats, Rhodey!" Tony said with a smile of his own. Then he patted the top of Theo's head. "Excited to be a big brother?"

Theo looked up and smiled. "Yep!"

They all laughed at Theo's enthusiasm.

Pepper looked to Tony, who had stopped doing the air walks. "Tony, don't stop, my knees hurt."

Tony blinked, remembering that he was supposed to be doing the air walks. "Oh right." And continued with the air walks.

"Jeez Pepper," Mabel said with a smile. "You're like, mega pregnant."

"Well, I am 7 months pregnant with twins!" Pepper pointed out.

Mabel laughed and smiled. "Too bad we can't be pregnant buddies. That would've been fun!"

"That reminds me," Pepper commented. "How far along are you?"

"Three months!" Mabel squealed out loudly.

Pepper stared for a minute. "I'm surprised you managed to keep it a secret for so long!"

Mabel pouted. "Yeah, Rhodey wouldn't let me spill."

"Good, it's best to wait," Pepper said. "Well, in my opinion at least."

"I guess you are right." Mabel replied.

For the rest of the day, Mabel and Theo kept Pepper company while Rhodey hung out with Tony. That is until Tony had to leave off for an iron man thing, so Rhodey went along, leaving Mabel and Pepper behind as they went to deal with it.

Mabel busied herself with her own fun thing with drawing on Pepper's stomach. "I wish it was Halloween."

Pepper laughed. "Of course, you would think that."

"I'm serious!"

Mabel switched colors with the marker she was using and continued with her drawing on Pepper's stomach. Pepper watched as Mabel finished the drawing. The drawing was a small, yet big, stop sign that said 'babies on board'.

"You're washing that off." Pepper stated. "I hope you know that."

Mabel pouted. "I know, but please just wait so we can so Tony and Rhodey."

"Fine." Pepper said.

Mabel clapped her hands and smiled widely. "So, have a nursery ready?"

Pepper smiled, brightly. "Oh yeah!"

Pepper held her arm out to Mabel who was putting away the markers. "Help me up, I'll show you."

"Okay," Mabel replied happily.

Mabel helped Pepper up and let her lead the way to the nursery. Pepper was smiling the entire way there. Pepper was definitely surprised when Tony first showed her the room. She was certainly not expecting the nursery to look like how it did. Knowing Tony, she expected it to have turned out a whole lot worse. But no, she loved it.

Even though it took him longer than the week she'd given him to work on it, she still was left amazed at how good it was. She was definitely excited to show Mabel.

They arrived in the room, and Mabel sucked in a breath. "Whoa…!"

The room was basically split in two. One side, the wall was painted a variety of different shades of pink with some yellow and orange, the other half, was a variety of blues and greens, and they were split by a window. One each side, the cribs, blue and orange, were set directly across from each other and the dressers were side by side on each side of the window. A changing table was placed in the center of the wall so it was on both sides. Stuffed animals were everywhere pretty much and there was a white bench between the two dressers. The carpet was green and blue with pink polka dots.

"This is amazing!" Mabel said. "Tony did all of this!? He did? Our nerdy Tony, was able to make this?"

"Yeah," Pepper replied proudly. "Tony did all of this with no help. And hands down is my favorite nursery I've ever seen."

"Jeez, he must have really wanted to impress you!"

"Yeah, it also helped that _someone_," hint, hint. "Bought all the furniture with a similar theme…"

Mabel squealed. "I KNEW THEY WOULD COME IN HANDY!"

Pepper flinched at the loud noise. "Okay, okay, calm down."

Mabel smiled sheepishly. "Oops…"

"Either way, thanks." Pepper said, then she rubbed her back. "Okay, do you mind if I go lay down, I'm tired and sore."

"Pain meds?" Mabel questioned.

Pepper nodded and wobbled her way to her bedroom. She laid down with a content sigh. Oh comfy bed, how she missed it. Mabel came back with water and the medicine. She gave it to Pepper who took it gratefully and drank all the water.

There was a knock at the door and Pepper furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. What was it? She wasn't expecting anyone.

"I'll go get it," Mabel said, "You stay here and get some rest."

Mabel disappeared to go answer the door and Pepper just sighed. Her head was hurting, so she closed her eyes and decided to get some rest like Mabel said to.

But, opened as soon as she heard Mabel's voice. "Pepper…!?" Her voice was slow and scared.

Pepper sat up in the bed and moved to get up as soon as she heard Mabel's scream lightly in shock.

**Uh oh, what is it NOW!? Who is at the door? And Mabel is PREGNANT!? **

**Heh, sorry for the cliffhanger, but I'm already working on the next chappie! :D **

**Hey guys! I have a Pepperony Contest up, for those of you that haven looked at it, it's in the forums! Go take a peek?**

**Fun Fact: _For a solid year, I couldn't breath out of my nose, except for the execptional few hours... And now, I get at least a full week to breath clearly through my nose. :) _**

**So, my stomachache has disappeared (so far) so, I'll be able to write some more. But ugh, it sucks when this happens because I know it lasts normally for about 3 days until it officially goes off. But it sucks because It happens A LOT, like every other week sometimes, but most of the time, it's pretty manageable. So, lets hope it's not going to be here long! **

**I'm going to work on the next chapter and I might rewrite my next chapter for Up in Flames. (I'm not liking how I wrote it, but I'll keep trying) And I can see Is this Goodbye? In our near future. Hopefully.**

**Well, hugs and love, SilverPedals!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Okay, so YAY a quick update! Sorry for the horrible cliffhangar! :D Hope this chapter makes up for it!**

**Replies at the bottom.**

**Disclaimer: IMAA is NOT mine. **

Mabel walked out of Pepper's room, a slight skip to her step. She was smiling brightly, her hand on her own stomach as she approached the door. The knocking continued, so she opened the door to answer it. "Hello?"

When she saw who it was at the door. Her eyes widened. She didn't know who it was, but whoever it was, did _not _look friendly. He had a pistol in his hand and he wore a plain white tee, and black jeans.

"Pepper…!?" She called out, her voice shaking a bit.

The man who held the gun, looked at her dismissively, and shoved passed her. Knocking her to the ground. She released a small scream. He walked passed her, not even bothering to look at her anymore. He walked up the stairs, to where Pepper was.

Oh no.

She pulled herself into a standing position and whispered, just loudly enough to be heard by Jarvis. "Jarvis, um…alert Tony. Tell him, about the situation! Oh and Rhodey!"

"Will do, Ma'am."

The man spun around. "What was that? Who was that!? Tell me!"

"Jarvis?" Mabel said backing away.

The man glared at her before dubbing that she was no threat to him, and took a deep breath. "If you call the cops, I'll kill the woman!"

Mabel Paled. What was she going to do? Who was this man? And what did he want with Pepper? She had to go get Theo!

…

Tony shot his repulsors at the villain. Rhodey was flung backwards by a car that was thrown at him. They were fighting a new villain, who could somehow move objects with this device he has. He was destroying part of New York with it, so Tony and Rhodey went to deal with it. Only the man had a pretty large team on his side that were firing guns and lasers and rockets at them.

That was when his phone via armor, went off. He paled at the caller ID. Jarvis. It was an emergency.

"Jarvis, what's going on?" He asked, he tone still.

[An armed man has broken into the house, sir. He's specially said no cops or he'll kill the woman. He is going straight to Mrs. Stark.]

Tony paled, and failed to notice the large rocket flying his way. He went veering off into a building and onto the ground. He hung up on Jarvis. He groaned as he was banged around inside the armor.

"Tony, you alright, man?" Rhodey's voice said over the comm. Link.

Tony shook his head as he stood up. "No, an armored man just broke into my house. He's heading for Pepper. H-he's going to hurt her. The babies…" His voice started to quicken as he started to panic. "Rhodey, we're too far away, and I can't leave you alone, Rhodey what do I do? What if Pepper-?"

"Tony!" Rhodey snapped.

"And Mabel's still there, and Theo…and – oh god…." Tony said again, failing to notice the rocket heading his way and went flying back, his ears ringing. "I can't save them…I can't save Pepper…"

"Tony!" Rhodey said, trying his best to shield himself and Tony. "Get your head in the game!"

"Rhodey, but -!"

"No buts!" Rhodey scolded. "You're Iron man, you can do it. You can save them!"

"It's too far, there's no way…" Tony said, his breath becoming uneven. It wasn't helping that his armor was now dented in the chest plate.

"Tony, think for a moment," Rhodey said aiming his guns at the villain. "You're Tony Stark. You're Iron Man. You wouldn't leave the house unprotected now would you?"

Tony blinked, finally listening to what Rhodey was saying. "Right."

He linked back up to Jarvis and set his face to that of anger. No, not anger, he was pissed. No one. Repeat, NO ONE, messed with his family. "Jarvis, put the house on lockdown,"

"Right away, sir." Jarvis replied.

"Jarvis, engage protocol 7, as well."

"Of course."

"Tony!" Rhodey shouted. "I can handle this, go! Go save Pepper!"

Tony looked to his friend, "You positive? This guy's tough."

"This guy," Rhodey said gesturing to the man who seemed to have difficulties with his device, "Is an amateur, whose real threat is his team of rockets and lasers."

Tony nodded. "Okay, you take things over."

…

Pepper slowly pushed herself up the instant she heard Mabel's voice. She made her way to the door to see who it was, but before she even got to the door to the bedroom, the emergency door slammed shut. Oh right, the house could be put on lockdown.

The 'emergency door' was a metal door that was installed above the actual door. If commanded, the house could be put on lockdown and all doors would be shut like so.

Which made her worry, because that meant whoever it was at the door was dangerous. And it also meant that Tony was contacted. He's the only one that knows, other than herself, how to put the house under lockdown. Then she started to worry, because Mabel was still out there. She just hoped that Mabel had gotten Theo before anything could happen.

She jumped when she heard slamming on the emergency door. Lights were turned off and practically all power. Shouts were heard, but weren't understood.

Pepper again, jumped when she heard the loud hissing of a door opening. She looked over, and saw that the small safe room area, Tony installed, had opened. Jarvis's voice emitted from the room signaling that she was to go in there. She put a hand and didn't hesitate to listen.

If Tony was to go this far as to engage protocol 7, which was basically just to open the safe room, or rooms, it had to be serious. Or he was just being over protective. Yeah, Tony was definitely not taking any risks when they built the house.

"Jarvis," She spoke when the door shut behind her. "What's with the extra protection? The emergency door was already shut."

[It was a demand from Mr. Stark.]

"Demand? What for? Who was at the door?"

[An armed man, who was coming directly to your room.]

Pepper paled. "And Mabel?"

She feared the answer, but still wanted it anyways.

[Is completely unharmed. She is currently is with Theo in the second safe room.]

Pepper sighed in relief. At least the armed man couldn't get in. And hadn't harmed Mabel. She would've been so pissed. She protectively put a hand on her stomach, where Serenity and Leo were. They kicked in response.

"And Tony?" She spoke. "What about him, he was alerted, so is he coming?"

[Indeed he is. He's about three minutes away as we speak.]

She sighed. Good thing he was alerted. The armed man would have gotten to her before she realized that the house should be put on lock down. If his intent was to just shoot her, she'd be dead. They'd be dead.

A crashing sound interrupted her thoughts. "Tony?"

[Indeed.] Came Jarvis's response.

She closed her eyes in relief. Tony was here. Tony would save them. He would make sure they were safe.

"Is he winning?" She asked, hopeful.

[He already won.]

She smiled and laughed. If anyone was in there, they might have thought she was crazy. Maybe she was, but she was just relived that the situation wasn't so serious. If Tony hadn't arrived, it would have been, but he did. He saved them.

And that was why she loved him.

…

After Tony tied up the armed man, he hardly gave the man a second glance before he went to find Pepper who was in their room.

Tony gathered Pepper in his arms as best he could. He seemed to be breathing heavily, more in relief than anything. She could see that he was genuinely worried about her. So he wasn't just being overprotective with both the lockdown and protocol 7. He honestly believed it was necessary.

"Pepper…" He breathed out. "I was so worried…I thought I wasn't going to make it!"

She patted his back. "I know, I got a bit worried myself."

He nodded, his face hiding in her hair. "I'll always make it. I would never let anything happen to you or the babies. Never."

She smiled. "And I believe it."

"Oh, god I love you." Tony said, breathlessly into her ear. "I love you so much."

"And I love you, Tony."

Tony pulled away with her, and she was honestly shocked to see his eyes were a little red. "Why do I love you so much?"

"Because you'd never survive without me?" Pepper suggested.

Tony laughed lightly. "Never."

…

Mabel hugged Theo tightly to herself. She had been so worried that something was going to happen. She heard a few gunshots before Jarvis's voice spoke telling her where a safe room was. She went in there, hoping that nothing had happened to Pepper.

But it was over now. And even Rhodey had returned. A bit beat up and bruised, but then again, so was Tony.

"Mabel, sweety!" Rhodey said squeezing her in a hug. "You're alright!"

"Of course I am!" Mabel replied. "I have a good friend looking out for me."

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "Even so, I'm glad you're safe."

Mabel kissed him. "As am I."

**Okay, how was it? Better? Okay? GOOD?**

**I tried to make it as good as I could. I almost considered rewriting it, but eh, I'm too lazy. I have enough rewriting when it comes to Up in Flames. :)**

**Fun Fact: _I REALLY hate eating fish...EW..._**

**Again, please check out my Contest~! **

**REPLIES!**

**Guest: I did! :)**

**JesusFreak93: Your welcome! :) And now you know! THANKS! :D**

**PercyJacksonLover14: Aw, that sucks, stupid auto correct! :( Thanks! And yeah, she can be pretty crazy, and I loved the twist too! I just got so happy when I wrote it! *Runs and hides* Don't hurt me! I'm sure it won't happen again...i think...**

**Lili: No, not Whitney, and I sure hope it wasn't a happy scream! Lol :) Thanks!**

**bubblesmaster2008: Nope. Not Gene. And me too! It's going to happen soon! We're sooo close!**

**ebbs-imagination: Yes...I am very cruel. I love being cruel just to be cruel...Nah, just kidding, but i am a bit cruel XD Thanks, I'm glad i could give! :)**

**Well I'm off, Be HAPPY and LOVE cookies! :D**


	14. Chapter 14

**Okay guys! I think you're going to be happy! I updated! :D **

**Disclaimer: IMAA is not mine...right?**

(March 6th – 34 weeks pregnant)

Pepper laid her head back against the arm of the couch, trying not to look rude as she tried to tune her father's voice out. Honestly, he'd been talking to her for almost 45 minutes now. Yeah, she was counting. He'd been going off about how she had to be more careful and that she shouldn't rely on her husband for everything. Even though he was Iron man.

She tried telling him that she was fine and that the only reason why the armed man had gotten so close was because, she hadn't realized that the person at the door had been a threat. And that she was lucky Mabel got ahold of Tony before anything could happen.

"Patricia, are you listening?" Her father's voice droned on.

She nodded sub consciously. Seriously, her back was killing her, and she was trying her best not to snap at her father. She knew he was only worried. He'd gone off on a mission only two days after the incident, but hadn't know what had happed until he got back. Apparently the break in had been in the papers because a neighbor called in about loud noises, which they should have been used to. So the police came before Tony could turn the bad guy in personally.

It was lucky for them, that the full story hadn't been given until a week after the incident. Though, then was no better than now. Roberta was the first one over to see if they'd been alright. She could hardly stop hugging the two of them, quietly whispering small thank you's in their ears. Howard was next, first scolding Tony for not having the house well protected like he should. Apparently, emergency doors, safe rooms, and Jarvis, wasn't enough. Not including the 6 other protocol's before protocol 7, and not mention the many more that Tony must have. But nonetheless, Howard was sincerely worried that something had happened and wished that he'd been told sooner.

"Patricia, if you aren't going to listen," Her father, said shaking his head. "You won't know what to do the next time this happens."

"Dad," She spoke up. "I'm _fine, _seriously. And dad, it's Pepper."

And that's got to be one of the first times, 'fine' meant 'fine' and not 'I'm not okay'. She honestly was fine, and despite the scare for her babies, and the fear for Mabel, she was fine, and well prepared.

"Yeah, well the next time it happens, you won't have time to get into a safe room!" Virgil insisted.

Pepper rubbed her temples with one hand. Where was Tony when she needed him? "Dad," She said, clearly trying not to get snappy with him. He only meant the best. "This was a one-time deal! I'm sure I won't be alone the next time an _armed _man decided to waltz in my home."

Virgil looked down at his hands. He was sitting on the coffee table next to his daughter as she laid on the couch. "I know, but your husband is Iron Man, and you are – were – Rescue. The bad guys aren't going to forget about that. This is the second time now that I've heard of a break in when you couldn't be protected."

"Tony saved me that last time." Pepper pointed out, her blood turning cold just at the thought of that day with…Whitney.

"Doesn't mean he'll be there every time."

"Okay dad, if you're going to get like this, I don't want to hear it." Pepper said, finally giving up on holding it back. "I understand that you're worried, but I'm not defenseless and Tony wouldn't let me die. He'd die before he even thought about thinking about letting me die."

Virgil sighed, but laughed breathily. "You're my daughter alright. Stubborn as hell."

Pepper smiled. "And I'm not changing."

Virgil patted her head like when she was younger. "I wouldn't imagine it."

…

Pepper flipped through her book absent-mindedly. She must have read the book a hundred time already. Okay, she was lying. It was more like 8 times. And by then, she knew every word and what page every chapter started on. They say it's best to read a book at least twice, but three times for good measures. The first time, just to read it. The second time, to catch what you missed the first time, and the third time, to get everything.

But 8 times. Was that necessary?

She sighed and set down the book. She wished Tony was there, but he was busy finishing up with work and making sure that he could do it from the house. It was his last day that he would 'technically' leave the house for work. Aside from the weekly required meeting at the tower, he wouldn't really need to leave the house for work. Other reasons being more personal like groceries or other shopping things.

At least if Tony was here, she wouldn't have to read over and over again. Being bedridden sucked. She hadn't been able to do any sort of 'air walk' since Tony had to leave early in the morning. Really all he had time to do was kiss her goodbye after he made sure she had something to eat.

She looked at the clock. Tony wasn't supposed to be home for another four hours. At that was if things went well. Knowing him, he would probably be there for an extra hour or two. Not to mention anything Iron man related that he had to do.

She sighed and looked to her stomach. "I love you and all, but I can't wait until you guys are out."

The phone rang and Pepper reached over to answer it. "Hello?"

A loud squeal came from the other end. "IT'S A GIRL!"

"A girl?" Pepper asked, but then realized who it was. Duh. "Wow, Mabel, congrats!

She was definitely straight forward with the revelation of the gender. Doesn't really matter, Pepper just liked being creative.

"I know! I was going to keep the gender a secret until the birth, but I got impatient and asked the doctor." Mabel explained. "Rhodey was a bit upset, but he got over it!"

"Poor Rhodey," Pepper commented, more to herself than to Mabel.

"Nah, he had it his way with Theo, but this is my first little girl! I want to do this one my way!"

"That's great Mabel, but you say that like you plan on having even more kids…"

Mabel made a squealing noise. "Yeah, I've got it all planned out! I want four kids! Two boys and two girls. Or three girls and one boy."

"You're going to have to make sure Rhodey's with you on that plan." Pepper said.

"I know don't worry," Mabel replied.

"Well, congrats on the girl!" Pepper said. "But I have serious heartburn right now, so, I'm going to have to let you go."

"Well, bye Pepper!" Mabel half shouted into the phone.

...

Almost the instant Tony walked into their room, Pepper was practically assaulting him with demands. She wanted water, pain meds, air walks, a sandwich and pickles, and a massage on her aching back. Which he actually seemed happy to comply with even with how tired he looked.

He helped her sit up so she could drink the water and pill, then eat, then gave her a massage and finished off with air walks. Pepper felt better than she had all day.

"I missed you." Pepper said smiling as he was finishing the air walk.

"I missed you too." Tony replied, giving her a kiss.

Pepper winced slightly as she felt one of the twins stretch. As much as she loved them, she hated it when they stretched. It hurt! It was almost as bad as they seemed to want to dance on her bladder when she needed to use the restroom.

"Are they stretching again?" Tony asked, placing a hand on her stomach.

She nodded and used her own hand to try to urge the stretching baby to stop its stretching. When the baby stopped, she sighed in relief.

"Jeez, they do not like giving me a break." Pepper commented.

Tony smiled and looked at her stomach. "Don't listen to mommy, she's just tired."

Pepper lightly smacked his arm.

"What it's true!" Tony said and looked to her stomach. "Isn't that right, she's tired isn't she?"

Pepper laughed when they kicked as if in response. Tony smiled smugly when he felt it. He leaned forward and kissed Pepper than her stomach twice.

He then stood up and stretched. "Well, I'm going to go get something to eat, myself."

"You go do that."

…

It was later that night, when Pepper was waiting for Tony to come to bed. He'd gone off somewhere in the house looking for his phone that he said he lost. Which she didn't doubt, he seemed to lose it a lot. After a while, she was starting to fall asleep, but she was startled awake when she heard a loud crashing sound, followed by groaning.

"Tony!?" She called out, worriedly.

She started to get up, panicked. Had something happened? Was he hurt? Where was he? She got up eventually, a hand placed protectively over her stomach.

"Tony, are you alright?"

"Pepper, I'm fine." Tony replied.

Pepper looked around to find that he was at the bottom of the stairs. "Tony! Are you okay? What happened?"

She moved to go down the stairs, but he held a hand out. "I'm alright, Pep."

"What happened?" She repeated.

Tony smiled sheepishly as he moved to get up, his hand rubbing his head. "I tripped…and fell."

"Down the stairs?"

Tony looked down to his feet. "Yeah."

Pepper couldn't help but laugh. "You've got to stop hurting yourself like that. You had us worried!"

"Sorry." Tony replied, coming up the stairs.

"C'mon, let's go to bed."

…

Pepper's eyes snapped open, her hand flying to her stomach. She waited a few seconds, before her eyes widened.

"Tony…" She started, sitting up.

She shook his shoulder roughly when he didn't reply.

He opened his eyes and looked over at his wife, "Is something wrong?"

"Tony, I think my water just broke."

**Mwahahahahahahahaha! CLIFFHANGER! XD Sorry, but you should have seen this one coming...:) I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out, because I suspect there will be LOTS of rewrites of the next chapter! ;) **

**Fun Fact: _I never have an appetite in the morning or when I wake up, so I often miss breakfast..._**

**Please go check out my contest if you haven't already, It would mean a lot! :D**

**REPLIES!**

**JesusFreak93: No problem! Just did! Somewhat...:D**

**PercyJacksonLover14: Yep, totally correct, I just did...mwahahaha! Yep, I'm cruel :) But if you don't mind, I'm still going to hide...And THANKS! That means a lot! Again, thanks for noticing!**

**ebbs-imagination: No, it's not over. not quite :)**

**Lili: Wait no more! They are here! Well, figuratively...just a little bit more! **

**Thanks EVERYONE for reading and reviewing! It really does mean a lot! :D **

**Well, I'm going to go, might as well start writing some more! But that will be for later, I'm beat! **


	15. Chapter 15

**PHEW! I finally finished! May not seem long to you, but it has to me because I've been working on this all week! So YAY! It's the chapter we've all been waiting for! Oh and sorry for any OoCness! Oh and it's a LONG chapter so YAY!  
**

**Just before you go on reading, know this, I am NOT a doctor, I am in no way shape or form a genius when it comes to this! Everything you read on this chapter, I've learned through the TV or INTERNET. So, don't judge on what's right or wrong, cause I know they probably are, And I just want to let you know, I'm pretty self-conscious right now for this chapter, so go easy. Oh and I try to be detailed, but certainly not SUPER detailed, so again, there might be lots wrong with this...I dunno...**

**Disclaimer: IMAA is NOT mine! **

* * *

RECAP!

* * *

_Pepper's eyes snapped open, her hand flying to her stomach. She waited a few seconds, before her eyes widened._

_"Tony…" She started, sitting up._

_She shook his shoulder roughly when he didn't reply._

_He opened his eyes and looked over at his wife, "Is something wrong?"_

_"Tony, I think my water just broke."_

* * *

Tony stared at her sleepily for a moment. "Oh you're water broke, that's goo…" His eyes widened and suddenly he was wide awake. "YOUR WATER BROKE!"

Tony didn't waste any time getting out of bed and into some proper cloths. He went up to Pepper, his eyes still as wide as saucers, as he asked her if she was in any pain. She shook her head, honestly not feeling anything. Though she still knew that didn't mean there wasn't going to be pain.

He helped her up, and she could see that he was clearly panicking.

"What do I do? Do you need water, pain meds, a blanket? The hospital?" Tony voiced to her.

"Hospital!" Pepper snapped out, when she first felt the pain.

"Right, hospital." Tony said as he helped her walk down the stairs.

Pepper clutched onto her stomach as the pain temporarily disappeared. Giving her a moment to put on some slip on shoes. While she did that Tony got the car started and rushed her to the car.

Tony drove quickly out of the driveway, and hardly manage to stay within speed limit as he drove to the hospital.

* * *

A nurse gave Pepper a wheel chair almost the instant they rushed through the doors. She was brought to a room where a doctor took a look at her. After that, they said they had to wait just a little bit longer to actually give birth, so now, she had Tony roll her around in a wheel chair.

"I hate you." Pepper groaned out. "I hate you."

Tony paused his rolling, before he turned the corner. "You don't mean that."

"Yes I do." Pepper said, clutching her stomach. "You did this to me!"

"It's the pain talking not you, Pep." Tony said matter-of-factly, still rolling.

"That's what you think!" Pepper laughed, through her pain. "But oh no! No, no, I hate you!"

Tony decided it was best not to answer and spotted the doctor. He called for the doctor's attention, before rolling the groaning Pepper to the doctor. "Is she ready yet?"

The doctor gave a warm laugh, before taking the wheel chair from Tony. "Most likely, I'll go give it a look!"

The doctor brought them to the room where the babies were to be born. It was actually pretty spacious considering the normal hospital wings, but of course this wasn't like the usual hospitals they've been too. Pepper was laid on a bed. They had already switched her from her PJ's to a hospital gown.

Tony sat next to Pepper, who was watching the doctors do their thing. He put a hand over hers, causing her to look over. He gave her what he hoped was a meaningful look, but he didn't know how well it worked since he was a bit panicked.

"It'll be fine," He said, squeezing her hand slightly. "You'll do great!"

She gave him a small smile, "Thanks, but I still hate you!"

Tony sighed, knowing that the way her mind was running, it was probably best not to push the subject. So he just tried to imagine what their life was going to be like after this. After the twins were born, their life would definitely be a bit more interesting and maybe even more fun. He thought about Rhodey, who of course, when he had his first kid, had to brag about it to Tony, like it was a race of some sort. Only to chuckle to himself when he thought that if it was numbers that they were competing with, he and Pepper beat him to it.

"What are you laughing about?" Pepper's voice said. "This is not funny!"

She winced and clutched at her stomach. She was breathing kind of heavy like. She looked around, and before Tony could really answer her, she was already on a different matter. "Can I push yet!?"

"Almost, dear." The midwife said.

Pepper threw her head back as if she was annoyed. Tony wouldn't doubt it if she was. She looked annoyed.

Pepper was still holding his hand, which he thought was a good thing. It meant that she really did want his support in this. Which he didn't doubt in the first place, but with the amount of times she's said she hated him since they arrived, made him worry that she would be rebellious and decide that she didn't want to hold his hand.

Luckily, Pepper didn't have to wait that much longer. The doctor, who had gone off to get some files or something, returned. He made a few observations on how the babies were positioned inside her stomach, making sure that they would come out smoothly.

Tony made sure he was holding Pepper's hand tight enough, when the midwife first said that she could push. Pepper clenched her teeth together, and make a pained scream. Cracking Tony's hand in the process. She stopped, taking a breather.

Tony held both Pepper's hand and her shoulder as she pushed again.

Pepper was practically in tears from the pain, her face red as a beet, her hair sticking to her face after about 10 minutes of pushing. She was groaning as she breathed heavily.

"It's a boy!" The midwife said, cheerfully.

The midwife handed the baby to another nurse, who went off to clean it and do all that other stuff they do with newborn babies.

At that point, Pepper was told to just relax a little. Relax just a little bit until the second baby is ready to be born.

Tony was pushing Pepper's hair out of her face. He used a cold washcloth against her forehead. "One down, one to go. You did great, alright honey?"

She nodded, her breathing calming down a bit. She smiled at him, more widely this time. "Thanks."

He smiled back. "You just keep up the good work!"

Tony continued to give Pepper encouraging words, until Pepper was told that they were ready for the second one. Pepper groaned, but pushed when she was told to. Tony still holding her hand.

"Okay," The midwife said, "You're doing great, sweetie, just a little more!"

Tony nodded at Pepper, wincing as she crushed his hand in hers. "You're doing great!"

Pepper pushed again, and screamed.

"One more time, sweetie." The midwife said.

Once more, Pepper pushed. And that was all that was needed, for the second, and final baby to come out. The instant she was done, she let out a happy scream and threw her head back. Her face was red, sweaty, and purple as well. She was definitely breathing heavily.

She smiled, along with Tony as cries filled the room. Those were their babies.

The midwife walked in, holding a bundle of blue blankets. "Did you pick a name yet?"

Pepper looked to Tony, who nodded. "Leo Alexander Stark."

The midwife smiled, "What a cute name!" She looked down at the bundle of blue blankets. "You want to see mommy?"

Pepper stared for a moment, before holding her arms out. She smiled as soon as the bundle of blue blankets was in her arms. "Hey there, little guy!"

She used an arm to move the blankets from his face. The instant she saw his face, she pretty much burst into tears. "He has daddy's eyes, that's for sure!"

Tony peeked over at his son. The little baby glanced over at the new face. "He does!"

The little guy, whose name is Leo Alexander Stark, had Tony's electric blue eyes. He also had dark hair with a definite tint of red in it.

The midwife walked in again, this time holding a bundle of pink blankets. "What name did you pick for this little cutie?"

This time, Pepper smiled and looked up at the midwife. "Serenity Rose Stark."

"Aw, what an adorable name, huh?" The midwife said down to the pink bundle. "You get to see daddy!"

Tony blinked, but smiled. That was his daughter. He held his arms out. "Come here, baby."

The midwife handed the pink bundle to Tony, who seemed almost mesmerized by the bundle in his arms. He was almost afraid to pull away the blanket, from the baby's face, but found the courage to do so.

The baby girl, had dark, ebony colored hair. Lots of it too. She had Pepper's eyes, but Tony's eye color. She was also pretty chubby.

He smiled down at her, amazed at how beautiful their daughter was. Pepper was craning her neck to see also so Tony shift, a bit awkwardly so she could see better and she smiled.

"At least one of them has my eyes." She said smiling. "But I love the blue eyes," Pepper's voice trailed off as she seemed awestruck by them. "I never get over the blue eyes."

Pepper looked over at her husband. "Look what we made, Tony! We made them!"

Tony smiled. "Yes, we did! We made two beautiful babies!"

"That I love!"

"And I love too!"

* * *

After the babies were fed, the doctors and nurses ran a few easy tests. Not long later, after the new parents held their babies for the first time, they were brought to a nursery as requested. Since after all, it was the middle of the night, and Pepper was exhausted.

Tony drove home while Pepper rested to get over night bags and car seats. Which, he will admit took him almost a half hour to secure in the car. Then he returned to the hospital to get some rest himself, next to Pepper.

By morning, Pepper was allowed to change into better clothes. Which she did, almost the instant she woke up. They decided to get something to eat before they asked about the babies. Pepper was definitely starved, so she didn't mind waited a little.

They decided it was best not to make their family wait to hear the news, so as soon as they finished eating, they gave out their first call. To Pepper's dad.

They called him, so early in the morning, he instantly knew something was up. "Pepper is something wrong? Is it the babies? Are you hurt?"

Were the first words out of his mouth.

"Dad," Pepper started, knowing it might not have been the best idea to call him first. "I'm fine, and so are the babies."

Her dad sighed in relief. "Oh good, then why you calling?"

"Because I would love it if you came and visited me, we have two new members who would like to meet you!" She replied, readying herself for the reaction.

Which, by the way, there wasn't one. He dropped his phone.

Luckily, he knew what hospital they planned on going to for the babies.

The next call, went a little bit better, at least he didn't hang up…

Tony called this time, to tell his own father. Virgil wasn't the only one who became instantly worried about the early morning call. Tony would never call that early.

"Son, the babies are alright aren't they…wait a minute…" There was an exceptionally large pause. Tony could almost hear his dad's thought process through the phone.

"Dad?" Tony asked, worried that his dad might have already hung up.

"I'm here, son." His dad replied after another pause. "Are they…are the babies…?"

Tony smiled, even though his dad couldn't see him. "Yeah, they are, dad. They are."

"Okay, okay now!" His dad's voice was stern. "You listen to me! Don't you start panicking on me! I'll be there, and I will help you in every way I can! I did this with your mom! Don't worry! Don't panic, I'm on my way!"

"Dad, I'm not panicking." Tony stated calmly. "You are."

"No I'm not, you are!"

Tony was unsure what to say to that, but he dad beat him to it. "I'm on way son, don't you worry!

Tony decided to hang up before his dad did.

Pepper stared at Tony for a moment and laughed. "What happened?" She asked, curious about the face Tony made.

"My dad panicked."

"He panicked?" Pepper asked, unsure if she heard him right.

"Yeah, I'm not lying, but he's convinced I'm the one panicking." Tony said.

The two paused for a moment. They started to stare at each other and they shared a look.

Tony stood up quickly. "I'm not doing it!"

"Hey!" Pepper said as Tony walked towards a vending machine. Then sighed. Someone had to call Mabel at some point. Might as well be her.

She dialed the number and waited.

"Hello?" A tired voice asked through the phone.

"Mabel? You okay?" Pepper asked, noticing the tone Mabel used.

"Yeah, morning sickness."

"Ugh, well…" Pepper started a bit unsure if she should say it. "Um…"

"Pepper…?" Mabel voiced, suspiciously. "Did you…?"

Pepper smiled awkwardly. "Surprise…?"

Pepper never received a response. It was just the dial tone after that.

* * *

Pepper was just finishing up nursing Leo and Serenity, when their dad's arrived. Which Pepper wasn't exactly expecting to see, cause they both came marching in the room, like a couple of children. Arguing who got to hold the baby first.

"You guys realize, there's two of them," Pepper started. "Right?"

The two dad's stared at each other, then laughed. Before much else could happen, Mabel came sprinting through, as loud as a siren to see the babies. Stole both of the babies before any of the grandpa's got a change to hold just one of them. Causing a whole lot of ruckus between the twins.

So the parents took them back until they calmed down. Well, Pepper and Howard did. Howard got a hold of Serenity before Tony could.

Rhodey walked in trailing behind his own son, Theo. Roberta not far behind. As soon as Roberta walked in, the babies were in her arms. Which no one minded at all, because to Tony, Pepper, and Mabel, she was practically their mother. Or at least a much respected woman in their family.

Sadly, Virgil didn't get to hold any of the babies until after Theo was done holding them, which he did one at a time, and took his own sweet time. Though, in time, Virgil finally got to hold his grandbabies.

* * *

A couple days later, on their last hour at the hospital, Tony stood holding both babies, as Pepper went to the restroom. Serenity was sucking on her hand, while Leo was tugging on Tony's shirt. He smiled down at them.

"You two are just too cute, you know that?" Tony asked.

"I'm back!" Pepper announced.

Tony smiled at her and handed her Leo. "Let's go home."

"Lets."

**Okay, so how was it? Did you like it? Please, please, PLEASE go easy on me! I'm pretty nervous about this one...Plus I've been awake since 8 O'clock yesterday morning, which is VERY VERY VERY Early for me! And that mean's I've been awake for 20 hours now! ;D Aren't I smart? So, if anything thing seems off, know why.**

**There WILL be a Epilogue to this story, And Knowing me, there will most likely be a sequel! **

**Fun Fact: _I hate sleeping...if you haven't noticed...I just do. _**

**I've become addicted to Rune Factory. It is the BEST DS game EVER! (in my opinion) I cannot stop playing it! Jeez, I need to stop becoming addicted to things! First Anime, now Rune Factory! What next?**

**Well, PLEASE leave a Review! So for now, my lovely readers, HUGS AND LOVE! :D (Sorry there isn't any responses...I'm a bit lazy and without sleep...)**

******You guys, I almost posted this as Baby Genius...O.O** SEE!? I'm sleep deprived...i really should go to bed...  


**P.S. Just cause I'm so full of myself right now, if you've noticed my profile pic, it's Tony and Pepper! And just cause I'm so proud of it, I have to mention that I drew it! :D ...Okay, that is all, buh-bye!**


	16. Epilogue

**Well I'm back! And with a new chapter as well! :D You guys don't know how happy I am to be home! I really don't like being away from home even if its just a couple of days! I'm lazy...I know :/ Well, lets just enjoy this FINAL chapter! :) I know it's the last one! T.T But I hope to have either a sequel or even some oneshots with the twins in them!**

**Disclaimer: IMAA is...you know what, I just got home today, I don't need to do this right now. The world won't end if I don't do it.**

* * *

(3 Months Later)

Pepper groaned as she was awoken for the third time that night. She looked at the clock hoping that she would still be able to get some rest after this. She groaned once again when she realized that she would only get about two hours of sleep before they woke up for good.

She moved to sit up, but a hand kept her where she was. She looked over, not expecting Tony to be awake. "Tony?"

He didn't really answer, instead he sat up himself and leaned over the bed so she was under the covers. "Get some rest, I've got it this time."

Pepper swore her heart skipped a beat or two. If it didn't feel as if her heart would jump out of her chest, she might have responded before he was out of the room. So instead, she smiled and rolled onto her side, and went back to bed.

…

As expected, Mabel never really gave the new parents a break. She came over as much as she possible could. On the exception of giving them long breaks in return for them letter her return. Rhodey had actually said that she worried that the two would kick her out sooner or later.

Virgil actually took a leave off of work to babysit, even though Pepper already quit her own job. (Long ago) Howard visited every time he had an open lunch and they actually called for Roberta to come and help them.

And this day happened to be one of those lucky days where no one decided to pop in on them. Which could both be a good thing, and a bad thing. Good thing, because they got some privacy with their two new babies and to themselves. But, bad thing because that meant Pepper didn't get to take a nap. Especially when Tony had long days at work.

But today, he had the day off.

As of that moment, Pepper carrying around Serenity as Leo napped, hoping her baby girl would get tired as well. She was humming a sweet tune she heard Roberta humming just the other day.

"She sleeping?" Tony semi-whispered as he walked into the room.

Pepper shook her head. "No, even with how much Leo was crying last night, she still slept through all of that."

"She sure loves to sleep." Tony commented looking down at his daughter.

"Yeah, when Leo's awake." Pepper retorted. "Otherwise she hates sleeping."

Tony put his arms around his wife and daughter. "I'm sure she'll take her nap when she's ready to."

Pepper gave her husband a quick kiss before kissing the top of her daughters head. Serenity giggled and shoved her hand into her mouth. Though, Pepper didn't get to enjoy the moment.

Leo woke up.

…

"So, how's everything?" Rhodey asked sitting down on their couch.

Pepper sighed and sat on the other side of the couch. "Tiring, but good."

"Where's Tony?" Rhodey asked, "And the babies?"

Pepper smiled warmly. "Napping!" She sang quietly.

"All of them?"

"Yeah," Pepper said nodding happily. "I swear Tony is magical. Serenity would not nap! She was so stubborn and she wouldn't nap! Until the other night, Tony sat down with them both on his lap and they both fell right asleep. Serenity included!"

"Yeah, well they are Tony's children." Rhodey pointed out.

Pepper giggled brightly and grabbed a camera that was on a desk nearby. She turned it on to show him some pictures.

"See? That was the first night Tony got them both to nap." Pepper said.

It was a picture of Tony laying down, his head thrown back, passed out. Laying against his chest, was Leo and Serenity who were in his arms. They too were passed out, hugging their blankets.

Rhodey chuckled. Pepper went onto a few more pictures similar to the first until she hit later pictures of the new family.

Some were of Leo and Serenity in their room, rolling around on a blanket, since they couldn't really sit up yet. Some were just of the nursery. Lots of them had Mabel in them with the twins. Lots and lots were of family with the twins.

Pepper smiled happily. "I love my family!"

"I can see that." Rhodey replied.

"Oh, where's Mabel and Theo?"

"Mabel passed out in the car and Theo's at his grandparents' house."

Pepper laughed. "I was worried, because if she was awake, she'd be here with you."

"Yep," Rhodey smiled. "That's my wife."

…

(2 Months Later)

"Pepper!" Tony called out, eying his son. "Can you come here for a second?"

Pepper walked in, holding a wooden cooking spoon. "What, I'm trying to cook dinner."

Tony gestured to their son. "What is he doing?"

Pepper blinked and looked over at their son, Leo. At first she wasn't really sure what Tony was bugged about. All he was doing was sitting in the corner. It wasn't until she remembered the first time their son did this that she realized what he was doing.

She burst out laughing. She didn't really respond, instead she just walked out of the room. Still laughing.

This worried Tony. "Wait, what? What is he doing?" Pepper hadn't stopped laughing yet. "Pepper! What is he doing!?" … "Pepper?"

When she finally stopped, she was in the kitchen again. "It's your turn to change his diaper!"

Tony paled and looked at his son, who was now crawling away from his camp spot in the corner. Giggling.

Tony narrowed his eyes. "I'm on to you."

…

"Tony it's a miracle!" Pepper whispered as her husband walked into the door.

"What is it?" He asked looking around for the babies.

Pepper hugged and kissed him. "They're both asleep!"

There was a pause.

Then cries.

Pepper's face dropped. "Correction, they were both asleep."

…

As of August 9th, Cynthia Jane Rhodes was born. She was the dark haired, dark eyed, daughter of James and Mabel Rhodes. Cynthia was a chunky baby, who weight almost 2 lbs. more that her brother. Luckily, he was born a bit too light.

Theo was more than happy to welcome her into the family. He even offered to give her his bed. After all he was learning how to talk.

Pepper was there as she was the first time when Theo was born. She was the third one to carry her. Tony was next. Mainly because grandparents' on Mabel's side, were unable to come right away. Tony and Pepper weren't able to stay long, but just long enough to see the happy family welcome their second baby into the world.

…

Tony and Pepper's house was home full of babies. Literally. There was Leo, Serenity, Theo, and Cynthia. Not to mention the two three year olds that were there since Mabel was babysitting their neighbor's kids.

Luckily Roberta and Virgil were also there to help. Though, of course Virgil mainly focused on Leo and Serenity.

Mabel was nursing her infant baby, Cynthia. "Theo is the sweetest!"

Rhodey nodded as well as he sent of Theo who had ruined his diaper he still wore.

Pepper held a sleepy pair of twins in her arms while Tony was off keeping the two three year olds happy in the nursery. "Why's that?"

"He's always offering up his bed, nook, or bottle for her when she's upset!" Mabel said happily. "He even helps tuck her in!"

Pepper 'awed'. "That's so cute!"

Mabel smiled, hardly containing her squeal. "I know!"

Rhodey stood up when he heard screaming from the nursery. "I'm going to go help Tony with the two, they can be quite rough when they haven't napped."

…

Pepper laid down next to her husband after she finally put the twins down to sleep. She rolled over, so she was pressed up against him. She wrapped her arm around her sleepy husband.

"I love you." She whispered into his ear.

He chuckled, his eyes shut. "I love you too."

She braced herself on her elbow, so she could look down at him. "Tony, do you think we'll be good parents?"

Tony's eyes opened and he looked at her for a moment. "Pep, what makes you think otherwise?"

"I don't know…" Pepper mumbled as she laid her head on his chest.

"Pep, no matter what you think, we'll be great parents." Tony assured his wife. "Leo and Serenity will turn out great, don't you even worry about it."

"Thanks Tony," Pepper said snuggling closer. "I just needed to hear that."

Tony held her close to him and kissed the top of her head. She smiled and closed her eyes.

"Night, Tony." She whispered.

He kissed her head again. "Night Pep."

**Meh, didn't like the ending...But, How did YOU guys like it!? Was it a chapter fit to be the last? **

**Fun Fact: _I get really sentimental with games that don't have the same characters in the second, third...etc as the original game. That's a big reason why I just get the first one. Of most games, some have the exceptional better characters. Example: Rune Factory and Rune Factory 2. __  
_**

**_Okay, guys Two things. _**

**_I've got a new poll, for which story I should work on next! :D I can't decide, so I'm letting you guys decide for me! It's on my profile, so PLEASE go check it out! _**

**_And, Most of you have heard that I've been thinking about a joint story or what not...and Really i wasn't expecting any of you to really reply, even to ask what it was. So, I might just post up some rules explaining what it is and what we could do. :) How's that sound! _**

**_Well, I'm off! Hopefully to work on the next chapter for The Elevator since thats a quick update! :D_**


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